Tommy and Jason's European Adventure
by White-Knight-1988
Summary: Over a decade in the making, finally the time has come for the two best friends to take the trip of a lifetime. From Amsterdam to Zurich...needless to say, Europe will never be the same again; especially not with the addition of a third in France.
1. Chapter 1

_**Title: Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter One**_

_**Original Posting Date: June 28, 2009**_

--

The clock on the classroom wall ticked away slowly as Tommy Oliver sat behind his desk, frantically grading final exams while his last class of the year put the finishing touches on their own tests. Sparing a brief moment to look up at his students, he could not help but to sigh after gazing out on the sea of young people. There was no Conner or Kira, nor Ethan or Trent, just thirty or so kids of whom most he would probably never even see again after today.

Truth be told, a very large part of him missed those four pupils, perhaps more so than was healthy for any normal teacher-student relationship. Then again, _normal_ had only defined their relationship for all of about five hours, right up until three of the four had unintentionally stumbled into Tommy's basement and discovered the glowing gems; gems that had never been intended for them, but that would inevitably give them the necessary power to become Earth's next team of defenders, the Dino Thunder Power Rangers.

It had only been a year since they had all graduated and gone off to college, but for Tommy it seemed like a decade. Not coincidentally, that was about how long it had been since he had first been forced to retire from the Rangers; neither time had it been his choice, and both times it had left him with a deep sense of emptiness, as though an intricate part of who he was as a person had just been ripped away from him without cause or concern.

While that may have been part of it, the real sense of emptiness came from the disappearing camaraderie that each Ranger team shared with one another. Both times that he had retired his teammates had gone on without him, leaving him behind while they went on to bigger and better things. They had left him behind in Angel Grove and ten years later they had done the exact same thing in Reefside. Thankfully he still had Hayley, his old friend from college who had also served as something of a technical advisor to the Dino Thunder Rangers.

It was that missed sense of camaraderie and close friendships that had him longing to be done with this, the last day of school before summer vacation. No one would have known by looking at him, but Tommy was more excited than he had been since before his teenaged teammates had gone off to college. There was another adventure waiting for him just around the corner; one that, in the years to come, Tommy would eventually look back on as undoubtedly one of the best experiences of his entire life.

As he continued to grade exams, one by one his students brought their tests up to him, returning to their seats in silent anticipation for the final bell to ring. When it eventually did ring nearly twenty minutes later, Tommy barely had enough time to look up and see his students sprinting towards the door before they were gone, wanting to get their summer vacation started as quickly as was humanly possible.

He had to chuckle at that, firmly understanding their sense of urgency as he felt very much the same way that they did. At precisely twelve forty-six on the afternoon of June the ninth, Reefside High School was the absolute last place in the world that Tommy wanted to be. Unfortunately, he had many tests that still needed to be graded before he could enter final grades for his students; then, and only then, would he finally be free.

For nearly three more hours he sat behind his desk: grading exams; entering them into the school's computer systems; and somehow finding the time to eat lunch without even bothering to take a break. When at last he had finished, he rose to his feet and stretched his arms high above his head, wearing a smile that was as triumphant as it was relieved.

"Now I know how Rita felt," he mused aloud, with a laugh.

Quickly gathering his belongings, he made haste to exit his classroom, heading down the stairs and elongated hallway until at long last he stepped out into the mild warmth of a Southern California summer. With his briefcase in one hand and a small stack of books tucked beneath his other arm, Tommy gave a quick look around and then started across the cement path that lead to the teacher's parking lot. As soon as he had reached his black Jeep he haphazardly dumped his things into the back seat; moments later, he was off.

Though he only lived a few miles away from the school it still took nearly twenty minutes for Tommy to get home. This was due solely to the fact that he had chosen to build his home away from Reefside proper, in the woods that all but surrounded the outskirts of the town so much like the one he had grown up in.

Upon pulling into the driveway he retrieved his belongings from the back seat and made a beeline to the front door, depositing his burden on the first piece of furniture he saw that could hold it. It was a small, elegant looking table that his brother, David, had carved and whittled by hand as a youth on the Navajo reservation outside of Angel Grove.

After that it was straight to the kitchen, Tommy pouring himself a glass of iced tea while ignoring the blinking red light on the nearby answering machine. Drinking his tea as he continued on to the master bedroom at the back of the house, he entered the room and found himself immediately grinning the second he had set his sights on what lay atop his bed.

It was nothing special aesthetically, just a simple camping backpack that he had packed some months ago, but from an emotional standpoint it meant so much more. In a day's time, his entire life was going to be contained in that backpack; and though he hated asking for help, the man with a self-admitted memory problem had caved in and asked Hayley to come by last night just to make sure that he had not forgotten anything. She had given him her seal of approval, but not before the same round of teasing she gave him nearly every time she visited his house.

He had unintentionally inherited a few traits from a certain someone who had an undeniable fashion sense and a certain affinity for the color pink. While he had not inherited the love of pink, the fashion sense had been all but unavoidable. As a result, his house was a direct reflection of this. Each room looked like it could be on the cover of a housekeeping magazine—something all of his friends teased him relentlessly about—and his own room was no exception.

The walls were split diagonally, black to the upper-left corner and white to the bottom-right corner; and, of course, all of his furniture matched the color scheme perfectly. This was done for two reasons, one being the obvious comparison to the yin-and-yang ideology that Tommy had studied through two decades worth of practicing the martial arts. The other reason was as simple as it was complex.

Though he had worn four different colors as a Power Ranger, only two carried a weight strong enough for Tommy to design his room around them. Black was the simple part, as it represented something of a full circle in Tommy's Ranger career. He had not just been a part of the Dino Thunder team, but a mentor as well, something no other Ranger could say that they had done. White was where things started to get a bit more complex.

White represented so many different things to Tommy. After dealing with his schizophrenic Green Ranger powers for such a long time, becoming the White Ranger had given him his first reliable power source. It was also when Zordon had first named him team leader, a title he carried as proudly today as he had ten years ago. But perhaps white's most profound place in Tommy's life lied with the fact that it had also brought him his first real relationship. His years in white were, without a doubt, the best years of his life.

Blinking away his thoughts of yesteryear, he flopped down on his bed next to the backpack and retrieved the television remote control from the adjacent nightstand. He was on the verge of turning on the flat-screen mounted on the opposite wall when he felt his cell phone start to vibrate against his leg. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the BlackBerry and rolled his eyes upon seeing the name on the caller ID screen.

"Why am I not surprised?" muttered Tommy. Bringing the phone to his ear, he eliminated all remnants of irritation from his voice and said, "Hey Mom, what's up?"

"Nothing much," said Janet Oliver. "I just wanted to make sure you're not forgetting anything before your big trip."

Tommy groaned loudly. "Mom, I'm not sixteen anymore. You don't have to call me for stuff like this."

"Oh, is that so?" replied Janet, with a no-nonsense tone of voice. "I seem to remember you saying the same thing before you came home for Christmas last year. I also seem to remember you having to borrow boxer shorts and socks from your father because you forgot to pack them. Trust me, Tommy; this isn't one of those trips where you want to forget your underwear."

"I didn't know there was any trip where someone would actually _want_ to forget their underwear," said Tommy, with a laugh. "Unless, of course, I was going to a nudist colony, which would be pretty weird considering I'm taking this trip with another guy."

"Don't you get fresh with me, young man," said Janet.

She was about to argue further when a masculine voice in the background cut her off by yelling, "Dammit, Janet, leave the poor kid alone! He's twenty-five years old for crying out loud! Unless someone has a goddamned sniper rifle trained on him, he and Jason are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves!"

"Don't joke about that, Thomas!" snapped Janet, back at her husband. "I know what happens to tourists in Europe! I've seen _Hostel_, too, you know!"

Tommy had to laugh at that. "Mom, I'm going to major cities in Western Europe, not seedy little towns in the Eastern Block. Plus, between me and Jason we know, like, seven different forms of martial arts. Like Dad said, unless someone we can't see has a gun trained on us, we're perfectly capable of defending ourselves."

Janet did not immediately reply, carrying on a brief argument with her husband in the background before returning to the phone. "Just…just promise me you'll both be careful, okay?" she said, apparently realizing that she was in the midst of fighting a losing battle.

"We will, Mom, I promise."

Once that was taken care of they were able to carry on a relatively normal conversation; the only problem was that it lasted nearly thirty minutes, which was about twenty minutes more than Tommy wanted to spend on the phone. In the end it was his father who finally came to his rescue by yanking the phone away from his wife, who had just started to remind her son about something else that she thought he may have forgotten.

As soon as he was able to hang up he immediately turned off his phone and tossed it aside. Turning on the television to ESPN, he laid back with his hands behind his head to watch what was most certainly going to be his last baseball game for a long time.

"It's all soccer from here," he chuckled, closing his eyes for a moment.

Having to wait was never something that Tommy enjoyed, nor was he very good at it, either. It made him feel helpless, out of control; while most would have been scared at the mere _thought_ of the things that Tommy had done in his short time on Earth, his biggest fear in life was not being in control.

He did not intend to drift off, but in a matter of minutes he was fast asleep. A few hours later he woke up, but it was only for long enough to eat a quick dinner and then he was back in bed. It was just seven-thirty in the evening, but their flight was leaving at six-thirty the next morning and he needed a decent night's sleep; plus, Jason would never forgive him if oversleeping caused them to miss their flight.

It was well past midnight, Tommy in the midst of a very peaceful sleep, when everything started to change. The darkness that had occupied his dreamless mind a moment before was now developing into a blurry scene that seemed to take hours to come into focus. When it finally did, Tommy found himself standing in the middle of a place he had never even seen before now.

He was in what appeared to be an outdoor market, dozens of stands filling a long cobblestone street; only the various product signs were not written in English. At first glance they appeared to be German, though by no means could he be certain.

His feet started acting of their own accord at that point, carrying him down the cobblestone path filled to capacity with shopping pedestrians. At the center of it all was the rear view of a woman standing some twenty feet in front of him. Though he could not see her face, Tommy was instantly captivated by her presence.

Soon—and for reasons he could not explain—he was following her through the market. When she started to pull away he moved faster, but no matter how quickly he moved she always stayed beyond his reach. Then, at the end of the cobbled path, she stopped and turned her head ever so slightly, as if trying to see something behind her from the corner of her eye.

It was at that point that Tommy caught up to her, but as soon as he reached out she was gone and the scene was changing. This continued repeatedly as Tommy chased the seemingly faceless beauty through various European cities: Amsterdam and Zurich; Berlin and Bern; Munich and Paris; always changing right when he was on the verge of catching her for good.

When he was suddenly in the middle of Leicester Square in England he expected nothing to be different. He would chase around the faceless beauty only to lose her at the last possible moment, and then he would do it again in another city. This time, however, it _was_ different.

She had stopped once more, and was now standing just beyond the outskirts of the square. Tommy ran as hard as he could to catch up to her, half-expecting her to disappear at any given second, but she never did. Standing just a few feet behind her, he reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, surprised when she did not immediately fade away.

Instead, the woman slowly turned around to face Tommy, but what he saw was the last thing he had been expecting. It was not the face of a gorgeous woman, but his own face, somehow twisted and molded with the face of another. The other half of the face was vaguely familiar; however Tommy could not place where he had seen it before.

It didn't really matter, though. Within moments of seeing the face his eyes had snapped wide open, Tommy bolting upright in bed, breathing heavily with droplets of sweat dotting his brow. The dream had not seemed like a nightmare while it had been happening, but now, as he ran his hand through his matted-down hair, it felt like the worst dream that he had ever had.

Closing his eyes, he brought his hands to his face and rubbed his forehead softly, trying desperately to re-imagine the twisted face. He was sure that if he could just see it for a few more seconds that he would be able to identify who the other face belonged to; but alas, that opportunity never came.

Convincing himself that it had been nothing more than a random dream with no real significance at all, he let out a deep sigh, laid back down and went right back to sleep without sparing so much as another thought to the dream.

--

Unlike his best friend, sleep for Jason Scott was not plagued by nightmares. When his alarm clock started buzzing at three-fifteen the following morning, Jason rose from bed without so much as a grumble of irritation. As the owner of four gyms and two karate studios in the greater Los Angeles area, waking up anytime after two-thirty was considered sleeping in.

Rubbing his eyes as he padded towards the connected bathroom, Jason reached out into the dark and found the light switch, giving it a flick that brought immediate illumination to the room behind him. Nearly everything in the room was either red or black, with hints of gold mixed in here and there as well.

Quickly splashing some cold water onto his face and brushing his teeth, he then proceeded to take a long shower, which he intentionally extended with the knowledge that a nice long shower like this was probably something that he would not get to have for a very long time. Nearly twenty minutes later he made his way back into his room with a towel wrapped around his waist, where a camping backpack much like Tommy's laid next to his bed.

"This is going to be so awesome," said Jason, grinning as he continued towards the walk-in closet on the opposite end of the room. In five minutes time he was dressed, wearing a pair of loose-fitting black workout shorts and a red Under Armour tee shirt that clung to his chiseled physique like a second skin.

Grabbing the camping backpack, he tossed it onto his bed and made one last thorough inspection just to be sure that he had remembered everything. Satisfied, he slung the backpack over his shoulder and stepped into the hallway of his one-story Valencia home, giving his room a fleeting look goodbye before continuing on towards the kitchen for a quick breakfast.

After ten minutes and a protein shake, Jason made his way out into cool morning air with a content expression. It was just past four o'clock, the sun had not yet started to rise, and it was much colder than was typical for this time of year, but Jason could not have cared if he tried. At that moment there was very little that could have made him even slightly upset.

He locked the front door behind him and crossed the front lawn, sparing a quick glance to the lifted Dodge Ram painted red with black trim that sat in the driveway. At the sidewalk, he dropped his backpack and took a seat, folding his arms across his knees as he looked up and down the suburban street, obviously in search of something.

It was nearly four-fifteen when a pair of headlights became visible from a few hundred feet away. Knowing that it was highly unlikely to be anyone else, Jason scrambled onto his feet and retrieved his backpack as a yellow Ford Focus slowly rolled to a stop at the curb.

The trunk of the car popped open as soon as it had stopped, Jason loading his backpack inside before making his way back to the passenger-side door. He slid into his seat and turned to face the Vietnamese beauty beside him with a bright smile and a quick kiss to the cheek.

"Thanks again for coming to get me, Tri," said Jason, buckling his seat belt as the car pulled away.

"No problem," replied Trini Kwan, with a smile of her own. She wore pajama bottoms and an oversized tee shirt, the latter of which was not nearly big enough to hide what appeared to be a beach ball where her normally flat stomach would have been.

"How are you feeling?" questioned Jason, "Ready for it to finally be over?"

Trini half-laughed half-sighed. "I've never been more ready for anything," she answered, Jason chuckling and nodding. "You know me, I'm not the moody type, but this pregnancy has my hormones all out of whack. Poor Billy…sometimes it seems like he doesn't even know which way is left and which way is right anymore; still, he's performed better than I ever could have hoped for. It's just a couple of more months now," she added, almost distantly, gently rubbing her stomach.

"Have you decided what you're going to name it?"

"_It_?" said Trini, shooting a sideways glance at Jason.

"Him, her, it…whatever," said Jason, laughing. "I just said 'it' because you're keeping the gender a surprise."

"Sorry," said Trini, smiling softly. "Hormones, you know?"

Jason laughed again and said, "So, have you decided on a name or what?"

Trini shook her head. "No, but we've decided on godparents. Obviously I want Kim to be godmother and Billy agrees," she replied, watching and smiling as the look of anticipation on Jason's face grew with each silent moment that followed, until finally she could take it no longer. "Will you be godfather, Jason?"

Although he had been hoping for this moment ever since Trini had announced to her former teammates that she was pregnant, that did not stop his mouth from falling agape when he heard her question. "You-you're serious?" he sputtered, all that he could manage.

Smiling brightly, Trini nodded and said, "Of course I'm serious. Why would I joke about something like that?" Jason just shrugged helplessly as Trini continued, "So, you'll do it? You'll be godfather?"

Jason swallowed hard. "Yeah," he breathed. "Yeah, of course I'll do it," he added, much firmer this time. "The first baby from our team…I'd be honored."

"Thank you, Jase," said Trini, patting his arm.

Jason could only nod as they merged onto the freeway en route to Los Angeles International Airport, more famously known around the world as LAX. For close to fifteen minutes they rode in near silence, exchanging only a few words here and there when something struck them.

Their primary topic of conversation was potential baby names. Trini admitted that she and Billy had entered something of a stalemate when it came to what they were going to name their first-born child. Trini wanted Jennifer Mai if it was a girl and Jeremy for a boy; Billy was stuck on Rebecca—his late mother's name—or David if they had a boy.

After that, it was not until they had merged onto Interstate-405 that another more serious discussion began.

"So Billy's taking it okay then?" asked Jason.

"Yeah," said Trini. "I mean, as well as can be expected anyway. Honestly, though, I think he's just as ready for it to be over as I am, if not more. Like I said, I haven't been the easiest person in the world to live with these past few months. Speaking of babies, is Mama Scott still hassling you to settle down?"

Jason rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and nodded. "You have no idea how sick I am of hearing it from her. It's freaking constant…like she thinks I'm thirty-five instead of twenty-five. Of everyone in our circle, only four of us are married: you and Billy, and Adam and Tanya. I'm not in any hurry to get married and I see no reason why I should be, you know?"

"Are you saying you wouldn't ask if you thought _she'd_ say yes?" questioned Trini, grinning impishly at the bewildered look on Jason's face.

"I…that's not what I meant," replied Jason, shaking his head. "I don't want to talk about this," he continued, looking away, staring with narrowed eyes at the painted white lines on the asphalt as the vehicle whizzed past them.

Trini just chuckled softly and said, "So, are you still going to do the 'youknowwhat' that we talked about last week?"

Jason shrugged and straightened his focus. "I don't know," he answered. "It's going to take damn near perfect timing to pull it off. Hopefully Tommy doesn't find anything too interesting in Austria, and I think I'm going to try as hard as I can to steer him away from most of the cool stuff in Switzerland, too, but at the same time I don't want to cheat him out of his trip for what could be no reason, you know?"

"Trust me," said Trini, firmly. "It's not going to be for no reason."

Jason raised an inquisitive eyebrow at that. "What makes you so sure?"

Trini laughed. "Oh no," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Jase, but there is no way in Hell that you're sucking me into this one. You of all people should know that I never reveal my sources when it comes to stuff like this. All you need to know is that he is going to name his first-born child after you if you pull it off."

Jason laughed as well and said, "I don't know about all that." When Trini shot her most venomous glare at him, though, he quickly amended his statement. "Alright, alright, I believe you," he continued, waving his hands defensively. "I'm not making any promises or anything, but I'll see what I can do."

"That's all I'm asking," said Trini, definitively. "Just remember, if you and Zack hadn't done what you did for me a few years ago, everything in my life would have more than likely ended up completely different. Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever really thanked you for that did I?"

"No, I guess not," said Jason, with a shrug. "But you really don't have to. It really wasn't that big of a big deal at all; honestly."

"Maybe not for you, but it was for me," replied Trini. "Now accept my thanks and deal with it."

"Don't you actually have to give the thanks before I can accept them?" questioned Jason, with a grin that made Trini's jaw visibly tighten.

"You're such a smartass," said Trini, rolling her eyes playfully. "Seriously, though, thank you. I owe a lot to you and Zack."

"You don't owe us anything, Tri, but you're welcome," said Jason, as LAX became visible in the distance.

All serious conversation ended at that point. They chatted casually for a few more minutes, but it was not long after that when the yellow Focus came to a stop in front of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, the morning sun only just now starting to peek through.

"Well, this is it," said Trini, smiling.

"Yep," said Jason, nodding. "Thanks again for the ride, Tri."

"Sure thing," replied Trini, turning as much as her belly would allow so that she could hug Jason goodbye. "Have fun and be safe out there, okay?"

Jason laughed. "Don't worry, Mom, I will be."

"Hey, not yet!" said Trini, smacking Jason's arm. Giggling, she waved her hand dismissively and said, "Get out of here before I go sabertooth tiger on your ass."

With his backpack strapped around his shoulders, Jason was outside the car and well out of Trini's reach when he leaned towards the open passenger-side window and said, "You do realize the T-Rex would kick the shit out of the sabertooth tiger, right?"

Flaring her nostrils confrontationally, Trini, with her middle finger extended towards Jason, replied, "You're lucky I'm fat and can't catch you. Just wait until the baby is born and I'm going to kick your ass like its kindergarten all over again."

"Hey, that was a lucky shot and you know it," argued Jason, adamantly. "I was too busy pouring sand all over Kimberly's head to see you sneak up behind me."

"That was the first punch, Jason," Trini reminded him. "What's your excuse for the four punches and three kicks after that? Not to mention you going and crying to your mom until she called mine and made me apologize."

Folding his arms across his chest, laughing as though she had just told him the most hilarious of jokes imaginable, Jason started to reply and then realized that he had no comeback. "I hate you," he deadpanned, through gritted teeth.

"Love you, too, Jase," said Trini, smiling and waving.

"Take care, Tri," said Jason, waving as well. "And make sure you don't pop that thing out before Tommy and I are back, okay?"

Trini rolled her eyes, but nodded nonetheless. "Have fun!" she called out, pulling away before Jason could say anything more.

Luckily, he was not left alone for very much longer. As cars came and went with people walking all around him, Jason noticed a silver Toyota Camry pulling into the line of vehicles at the curb, just a few cars away from where he was currently standing. He immediately started towards the Camry, but remained unnoticed until after Tommy had exited the car and retrieved his own backpack from the trunk.

"Hey bro, what's up?" said Tommy, grinning from ear to ear. His outfit was exactly like Jason's, the only difference being that Tommy's skin-tight tee shirt was white instead of red.

"Not much, man, you?" said Jason, exchanging a half-hug with the man who was the closest thing to a brother that he had.

"Same old, same old," replied Tommy, with a laugh. "I'm ready to get the hell out of here, that's for damn sure."

"Yeah, I hear that one," chuckled Jason, looking towards the car once more. Seeing the driver, he smiled and made his way towards the passenger-side door. Leaning his head into the window, he said, "Hey, Hayley, how are you?"

The redhead from New Zealand smiled back and answered, "I'm good, Jason. How are you?"

"I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was," said Jason, sharing a laugh with Hayley. "Nice job keeping the ass-clown out of trouble, by the way. I mean, out of all the colors, couldn't you have at least made sure he got something _besides_ one of my old ones? The guy already took red for crying out loud! I've got nothing now!"

Hayley giggled. "Sorry, Jase, but you know how it is; you don't choose them, they choose you."

"Yeah, yeah, that's pretty damn convenient if you ask me," replied Jason, shaking his head. From behind her sunglasses, Hayley gave him a very discreet look and quietly slipped something to him, mumbling a few quiet words just as Tommy stepped to his side. "Oh, hey bro," said Jason, nonchalantly. "Are you all set to go, or what?"

"I've been ready to go since freaking February," said Tommy, Jason laughing as he turned around and tucked something into his back pocket. Tommy then looked to Hayley and added, "Thanks for the ride, Hayley. I'll see you when we get back."

Hayley nodded and waved farewell to the two friends, driving away as they turned and started towards the entrance. As the electric doors opened automatically for them, Tommy said, "What time is it, man?"

Jason checked the digital watch on his wrist and said, "It's almost five. The plane leaves at six-thirty, right?"

"Yep," said Tommy, nodding as they began to navigate the terminal. "Man, this is going to be like _Euro Trip_ except not lame."

"Yeah, for sure," said Jason, nodding. "Its way cool that we're finally taking this trip, 've talked about doing this every summer we were juniors in high school."

"And we would have done it the summer after we had graduated if you hadn't bailed on me," laughed Tommy, as they stepped into the security line.

Wide eyed, Jason just shook his head. Setting his backpack on the conveyor belt, he started towards the metal detector and passed through without problem. It was only when Tommy followed after him that he turned around and replied, "See, that right there is proof that your memory has only gotten worse since high school. _You_ bailed on _me_ that summer. I bailed on you the summer _after_ the summer after we had graduated, remember? You were racing stock cars for your uncle in 1997 and in '98 I was dating Julia, A.K.A the bitch that wouldn't ever let me do anything even remotely fun."

"Oh yeah," said Tommy, suddenly remembering. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right," replied Jason, grabbing his backpack from the moving conveyor belt as Tommy did the same. "That's why I'll _always_ be the better leader," he added, continuing through the terminal.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Five years, the same number of power changes, and four different colors have something to say about that."

"Hey, man, there's no shame in second-best," said Jason, laughing. "All I'm saying is that I was the first, therefore the best. You saw the way Cole went all fanboy on me at the spaceport."

"Yeah, that's true, but T.J. called me a legend. Plus, who were all the one-liners directed towards at the end of it all?" said Tommy. "What was it that Wes said? _'Why does he have a fan club and I don't?'_ Oh, that's right, it's because I'm the best."

Jason scoffed. "Do you want anything from Starbucks?" he asked, as they approached a nearby stand.

"Grande mocha," answered Tommy, and just like that the debate over who was the better leader had ended.

Every so often they would do that, take a few jabs at each other just for the hell of it, but it always ended before it ever got too serious. No one but Tommy and Jason understood why they did it; truthfully, neither had ever admitted out loud why they did it, either, but there was definitely an unspoken understanding between them that had come the very first time that they had had one of these little arguments.

Once they had gotten their coffees they continued towards their gate of departure, reaching it in roughly five minutes time. Most of the seats were already filled, but they were somehow able to find three open spots near the tunnel that would eventually lead to the plane; the middle seat was used to hold their backpacks.

"This is going to be a long ass flight, dude," said Tommy, taking a sip of his coffee.

Jason laughed. "Trust me, I know. It's like fifteen hours to Vienna. I don't even know if my iPod is going to last that long."

"You brought your iPod?" questioned Tommy, furrowing his brow.

"Of course I brought my iPod," answered Jason. "It's a fifteen hour flight, bro. At some point during that time we're going to run out of shit to talk about."

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. "I know; I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one. Did you bring your phone, too?"

Jason shrugged. "Maybe," he said, trying unsuccessfully not to smile.

"Sweet," said Tommy, grinning. "I'd go nuts if I didn't have my BlackBerry. There's no way I could go a month without checking the Dodgers' scores."

"I fucking hate the Dodgers so much," muttered Jason, with a chuckle.

Tommy just laughed.

It was nearly thirty minutes later when the call came for the handicapped and those with children to board the plane. Not long after that was the announcement for those flying first class, which caused Jason and Tommy to share guilty glances with one another.

"Am I the only one that feels bad about flying first class?" asked Jason, as they gathered their backpacks and started towards the attendant waiting to check their boarding passes.

"Yeah, I think so," answered Tommy, laughing briefly. "Face it, bro, it's a good thing we waited this long to take the trip. We actually have money now and can afford to do shit we couldn't do when we were eighteen."

"True," said Jason, nodding, "Very true."

"May I see your boarding pass, please?" said the blonde woman.

"Absolutely," said Jason, smiling at her as he retrieved the pass from his left rear pocket.

She handed it back to him a moment later and Jason walked by without another word. Just short of the tunnel, he stopped and looked back to find exactly what he had been expecting to see. The attendant was standing there with one hand out and the other on her hip, looking none too impressed as Tommy frantically rifled through his backpack in search of his boarding pass.

Rolling his eyes, Jason reached into his other rear pocket as he walked back to the attendant. He remained silent, signaling towards Tommy as he handed her Tommy's boarding pass. By the time Tommy had looked up to tell Jason that he must have forgotten his ticket at home, the first Red Ranger was already gone.

In the first class section, halfway back and on the aisle, Jason was already seated with his earphones plugged in when Tommy stepped onto the plane a few minutes later. As soon as he saw Tommy, a huge grin crossed his face.

"You're a dick," muttered Tommy, stepping past Jason and flopping into his seat.

Jason laughed. "If I was a dick I wouldn't have given you the ticket at all."

"How did you even get it in the first place?"

"Hayley," answered Jason. "She gave it to me when she dropped you off; said you left it on the kitchen counter and to at least make you earn it."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Yep, this is definitely going to be a long ass flight."

--

"We will be landing in Vienna, Austria in approximately fifteen minutes time, at seven-thirty in the morning Central European Time. Please have your seatbelts fastened, trays and seats in their upright and locked positions, and thank you for flying with Lufthansa."

The flight attendant who spoke with a heavy German accent repeated this message in three more European languages, though for Tommy and Jason it fell on deaf ears. Both had fallen asleep long ago, about twelve hours into their fifteen hour flight, and then again after their layover in Frankfurt, Germany. They had not intended to end up this way, but Jason was lying with his head on Tommy's shoulder, his own head being used as Tommy's pillow.

With his eyes squeezed shut, Tommy was once again chasing the woman with the twisted face through Europe. Knowing what would eventually happen did not make the dream any easier to deal with; in fact, it only made it that much worse, so much so that Tommy forced himself back into reality the second that his dream-self had arrived in Leicester Square. There was no way in Hell that he was going to allow himself to see that face once more.

Blinking the sleep away from his eyes, Tommy looked to his right and realized that his shoulder had now become Jason's personal headrest. On top of that, Jason was snoring rather loudly. Tommy rolled his eyes and started to push Jason away, but it was at that moment that the plane's wheels hit the runway, the aircraft giving a slight jerk that was just enough to startle Jason from his slumber.

"Wazzgoingon?" asked Jason, looking around wildly.

"We're here," answered Tommy, with a yawn.

"Fuck yes!" whispered Jason, grinning at Tommy as they bumped fists.

Not long after that they had exited the plane and were now making their way through the Vienna International Airport. Neither had any idea as to where they were going, but there were enough map terminals throughout the airport to guide them on their way.

"Dude, I thought we'd stick out like sore thumbs here," said Tommy, looking around at the bustle of people around them, "But it seems like everyone here is a tourist."

Jason laughed. "That's because we're in an airport, bro. Wait until we're out in the open. Even then, though, we're two white guys in the middle of civilized Europe, not some third-world country in Africa or something. We shouldn't have any trouble blending in."

"McDonald's!" exclaimed Tommy, as the fast food stand became visible up ahead.

"Or not," muttered Jason, watching Tommy take off running towards the restaurant like an excited child. Shaking his head, Jason started after him. A few minutes later, Tommy had paid for and received his food, and they were moving once more.

"Tastes just like home, bro," said Tommy, with a full mouth.

Jason rolled his eyes. "You flew all the way here to eat McDonald's? You could have just stayed home and saved yourself thousands of dollars."

Tommy chuckled and shrugged. "I don't even eat this stuff when I'm at home, man, but I'm not about to just walk up to some random food stand and order something when I don't even know what the hell it is."

"Tommy," said Jason, slowly. "I spent two years in Europe, remember? I speak German and French damn near fluently, and can read them well enough that I can translate a menu for you. Trust me, though, you're going to go home disappointed if all you eat while we're here is American food."

Tommy just took another bite of his breakfast sandwich as they continued through the airport. Though it was called the Vienna International Airport, the airport was actually located in a town called Schwechat, which sat about nineteen kilometers—approximately twelve miles—southeast of Vienna proper.

After some ten minutes of walking they finally stepped outside, Tommy looking around with a shocked expression on his face. Aside from the obvious differences in road signs and the fact that almost all of the automobiles were German-made, he noticed nothing that separated this town from any other that he had ever visited.

When he mentioned this to Jason, Jason laughed and said, "That'll change once we get to Vienna." Motioning for Tommy to follow, he turned down a long stretch of sidewalk and added, "Like I said earlier, though, we're traveling through the heart of Europe. I don't think it's going to be some huge culture shock like it would be if we went to Thailand or something. Sure, the cities are older here and a lot of the architecture reflects that, but everything is modernized and most of the people we'll be dealing with speak English better than I speak German.

"Look," he added, pointing to what appeared to be a traffic sign. "The train station is just a couple hundred meters up ahead. That'll take us to Vienna; then we can check into a hostel and do some exploring."

"Cool," said Tommy, nodding. "So what exactly is there to do in Vienna, anyway?"

Jason shrugged. "I've never been, so I don't really know. I know some cool spots in Germany and Switzerland, but I'm as clueless on the rest as you are. Stop worrying so much, bro," he continued, with a laugh. "The whole point of backpacking is to just go. We don't need a plan; if there's cool stuff to do then we'll stay, if not we'll just move onto the next city."

Tommy said nothing; he merely nodded his head and kept on walking. Shortly thereafter they reached the train station; there were only two platforms, each with a set of tracks on either side. Nearby was a display with train times and destinations, so that was where they went first.

"Pretty much everything from here is going into Vienna," commented Jason. Slinging his backpack around, he dropped to his knees and quickly shuffled through his burden until he had found a fold-out map, which he then compared with the much larger display. "There's a pretty cool hostel a few minutes away from St. Josef Hospital. If I'm reading this right, the S7 train should get us pretty damn close."

"What's the train usually cost?" asked Tommy, having very little luck with the map display.

"It shouldn't be more than a Euro or two," answered Jason, stuffing the smaller map back into his bag. "Watch my backpack," he added, walking away. When he returned a few minutes later, he had two train tickets in hand. "The train that we need should be here in about ten minutes or so. We'll have to switch over to the underground at _Landstraße_ and take the U-Bahn the rest of the way."

In German, the letter _ß_ that appeared in writing to be a capital B, was actually pronounced as a hard—or double—S. The U-Bahn was an underground rail system akin to the subway in New York or the Bay Area's Rapid Transit in California.

Tommy took the offered ticket, and was just about to reply when someone caught his attention in his peripheral vision. She was standing at a distance of thirty feet away, waiting for a train on the opposite side of the platform, and was easily the most beautiful in the group of four other women that surrounded her; just a few inches shorter than himself, with long blonde locks and an hourglass figure that left him staring with his mouth agape.

"She's pretty hot, huh?" said Jason, who had noticed the look in Tommy's eyes.

"I don't usually go for smokers," muttered Tommy, maintaining his focus as the young woman took a long drag from a cigarette, "But I might make an exception for someone that hot."

Jason laughed. "Go talk to her, bro."

Tommy shook his head. "No way, man; she doesn't look like a tourist and I barely know enough German to order a beer and ask where the bathroom is."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Again, even more proof that I am a better leader," he teased, heading over to the group of young women without another word to Tommy. He walked right up to the one that Tommy had been ogling and politely introduced himself by saying, "_Hallo, ich heiße Jason._" He then pointed to Tommy and added,"_Mein Freund ist scheut, aber er denkt dass Sie sehr schön sind._"

Watching from afar, Tommy immediately looked away and pretended he that had not noticed when the blonde woman suddenly shifted her attention his way. Moments later he heard a fit of high-pitched giggles break out that made him wince visibly, Tommy silently wondering just how badly Jason was trying to screw him over.

From the corner of his eye he continued to watch Jason chatting with the group of young women, until at long last he started walking back with a shit-eating grin on his face and a scrap of paper in his hand.

"You owe me big time for this one, Tommy," announced Jason definitively, handing over the piece of paper.

Tommy took the paper, quietly scanned its scribbled contents and said, "Cat-juh? Is that her name?"

"God, you're so uncultured," replied Jason, with a laugh. "It's pronounced KAT-yah. She thinks you're cute; wants us to meet her and some of her friends tonight at a club in the city. I think she wrote the name of it on the paper."

"Seriously?" asked Tommy, Jason giving his confirmation as Tommy looked towards the woman once more. They locked eyes for just a moment and she gave him a quick smile and wave right as her train arrived. Two minutes later, she was gone; Tommy then turned to Jason and said, "I love you so much, bro."

Jason chuckled. "I know," he said, clasping Tommy's shoulder.

"You're still not a better leader, though," said Tommy, firmly.

"Whatever you say, bro," said Jason, rolling his eyes, "Whatever you say."

It was not long after that that their train came into view as well, slowing down rapidly as it approached the platform. They boarded the train and rode it to the _Landstraße_ stop, switched to the U-Bahn and took that the rest of the way. Tommy had only been given a brief glimpse of Vienna during the train-switch, but once they had re-surfaced from underground he was immediately taken by what he was greeted with.

Jason had been absolutely right; the architectural style was unlike anything that Tommy was used to seeing back in the States. The buildings all seemed to be multiple centuries old, but in no way was that a knock on their sheer, undeniable beauty; a copper bell tower that had long since rusted green loomed powerfully in the distance.

"Wow," breathed Tommy, rotating in a slow circle as he really and truly took in Europe for the first time.

"We're just getting started, pal," said Jason, grinning. "Come on," he continued. "Let's go find us a room before all the good ones are taken."

"Lead the way," said Tommy. Jason shot a look Tommy's way that made him immediately regret what he had said. "Not because you're better than me," he quickly amended. "You just have a better idea of where we're going that's all."

"Apparently denial is more than just a river in Egypt, eh?" said Jason, Tommy rolling his eyes as the pair started down another long stretch of sidewalk.

"You realize that we've been gone for something like twenty hours, but it's only, like, three hours later than it was when our plane left L.A.?" said Tommy, a few minutes later.

"Just wait until the jet lag kicks in, bro," replied Jason, reading a nearby sign that said _Hostel — 300 m_. "You'll start to feel it in the next few hours."

"Wonderful," grumbled Tommy, typing away on his phone.

"It's really not _that_ bad—" started Jason.

"Not the jet lag," said Tommy, with a flippant wave. "The Dodgers got creamed by the Diamondbacks last night."

Jason rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you'll get over it when you see Katja tonight. As I was walking away I heard her tell her friends in German that they were going to, quote, 'Show the sexy Americans what Austrian women are all about.'"

Tommy grinned. "I _definitely_ like the sound of that, bro."

"There's the hostel," said Jason, a short while later, pointing towards a large white building with seven levels that was lined with many small square windows.

"Are we going to have to share rooms with fifty other people?" asked Tommy.

"I doubt it," answered Jason. "Hopefully we're getting here early enough that we'll be able to get a two-bed room, but we might end up having to share with a couple more people. It's cool, though. Unless you make friends with your roommates, you're really only in the same room when you're sleeping. Come on," he added. "We'll check in, grab a couple of lockers for our bags, and then we can go walk around the city for awhile."

Tommy just nodded his head slowly; his mind was focused far less on exploring the city and much more on the gorgeous blonde woman called Katja. She was captivating in ways that he could not readily explain; not in a decade had he been as struck by a woman's beauty as he was right now, walking into the hostel.

The foyer of the hostel contained only a few people, who were scattered about randomly, and the receptionist, a uniformed man in his late thirties who stood behind an oak desk with a wall of empty wooden mail cubicles positioned behind him.

"_Morgen,_" said Jason, to the receptionist, as he and Tommy approached the desk. "_Haben Sie ein Zimmer für zwei?_"

"_Ein Moment, bitte,_" replied the receptionist, whose nametag read _Lukas_. He then proceeded to type away at his computer for a few seconds before returning to Jason and saying, "_Ja, haben wir das. Der Zimmer kosten fünfundzwanzig Euros jemand und Frühstück ist enthalten._"

"_Klar,_" said Jason. As he rummaged through his backpack for his wallet, he turned to Tommy and said, "Twenty-five Euros for the night and breakfast is included. You did remember to get foreign cash, right, bro?"

Tommy rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "Yes, Dad," he said, following suit until he had found his own wallet.

"Oh, you are American!" said the receptionist, in heavily accented English. "Very nice! The girls here love it when Americans come that speak German!"

"I know," said Jason, grinning towards Tommy.

They paid for their room with two twenty- and two five-notes and were each handed a key with a small map that laid out the floor plan for the entire building. After taking what they needed from their backpacks, they sealed them in lockers with padlocks that they had brought from home and then headed up the three flights of stairs to their room on the fourth floor.

Their room was what was considered a first-class room; it slept two people and had an adjoining private bathroom. Its walls were painted red and one single-sized bed with white sheets and pillowcases sat on either side of the room, roughly twenty or so feet between them.

"This doesn't seem so bad," commented Tommy, as he walked into the bathroom. In no means was it a five-star hotel room, but one would have been hard pressed to find better accommodations for such a small price.

"Yep," said Jason, flopping onto one of the beds. "This is pretty much what it's going to be like for the next month. Sometimes it might be a little nicer than this, sometimes a little less, but I guess you could call this the standard. I'm sure most of the other rooms here are probably the same, just more beds and without the private bathroom."

Tommy nodded. "So what's the first order of business, pal? It's only quarter to twelve. What time are we supposed to meet Katja and her friends?"

"Not until nine or so," answered Jason, his hands folded behind his head. "We could go to the Hofburg, or check out some of the cathedrals. Like I said before, we don't really have to have a plan, either. We can just walk around or grab the train somewhere…whatever."

"The Hofburg is that big ass castle, right?" asked Tommy.

"Kind of," said Jason, shrugging. "It's more like a really, really big house; kind of like a mix between a castle and a mansion, I guess. If I remember right, the Hapsburgs lived there for something like five or six hundred years."

Taking a seat on the edge of his bed, Tommy replied, "Yeah, we could do that. Whatever…I'm not too worried about it."

Jason sat up at that point as well and said, "Alright, well let's just head out and we'll see where we end up."

"I'm cool with that," said Tommy, nodding.

With that settled they both rose to their feet and turned for the door, each of them more than ready to see what Vienna had to offer them. Of course, even if the city did not turn out to be all that interesting, there was still an evening with tons of gorgeous women to look forward to.

--


	2. Viennese Escape

_**Title: Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter Two – Viennese Escape**_

_**Original Posting Date: July 5, 2009**_

--

Between the Austrian National Library (_Österreichische Nationalbibliothek_), the Museums of Art and National History (_Kunsthistorisches Museum_ and _Naturhistorisches Museum_) and a guided tour of the Emperor's Apartments (_Kaiserappartements_), the rest of Tommy and Jason's afternoon was spent exploring the grounds of the Hofburg, otherwise known as the Viennese Imperial Palace.

Originally home to the Hapsburg family's dynasty—and currently to the President of Austria—the palace was a massive structure, originally built in the fifteenth century and continuously expanded on in the decades and centuries that followed. Admission had been relatively inexpensive, and the pair had learned more in just a few hours here than they had in all the time that they had spent in Ms. Applebee's class.

When five o'clock started to roll around, employees at the Hofburg began preparing to close down for the evening, and so Tommy and Jason began making their way towards one of the palace's many exits, past the magnificent statues in Heroes Square (_Heldenplatz_) of the Archduke Charles and Prince Eugene of Savoy. As they walked towards the main road Jason stopped, turned around and pointed towards a balcony.

"That balcony right there is where Hitler stood when he annexed Austria into the Third Reich," said Jason, almost mournfully. "It's crazy, huh?"

"What's that?" asked Tommy.

"More than six-hundred years of history is in that building," answered Jason. "Some of the biggest events in world history have happened just a few hundred feet away from where we're standing right now. I mean, say what you want about Hitler, but he's iconic in ways that very few leaders have been: FDR, Churchill, Stalin, Hitler...for better or for worse, they're the ones that history will always remember. When we die, most of us will only be remembered by a few, but those guys…their legends will never truly die."

Tommy chuckled awkwardly. "You sound like you want to be remembered that way."

Jason glared at Tommy and said, "Can you honestly say that you don't?" Tommy stared back in confusion and Jason continued, "Come on, bro; you and I…we're exactly the same. After all the things we've done, doesn't it ever bug you that history will never remember us like it remembers them? The uniforms we wore, the things we did…those will be remembered, but never us...not the people we are."

Sighing helplessly, Tommy replied, "Yeah, sometimes I think about that and it bugs me, but there's really nothing we can do about it. Besides, as much as I'd like to be remembered, can you imagine what it would be like if the world knew who we were? Look at what happened with T.J. and the other Space Rangers. They're lucky if they go out in public and get stopped less than half a dozen times. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be forgotten than have to deal with that for the rest of my life."

Stuffing his hands into his pocket, Jason shrugged and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

As they started back towards the main road, his stomach gave a tremendous rumble.

"Damn," said Tommy, with a laugh. "Bet you wish you'd had some Mickey D's this morning now, huh?"

"Hell no, that stuff is poison," answered Jason, shaking his head. "I'm super hungry, though. You want to go grab something to eat? We can head back to the hostel after that, chill out for a little bit and then get ready to go out."

Tommy shrugged. "I'm cool with whatever, man. Do you know of anywhere around here that's good to eat?"

"Yeah," said Jason, nodding. "We spent a couple days here during the peace conference and went to this place called _Figlmüller_. It's a cool little spot; awesome schnitzel."

"How far is it?"

"About three miles that way," answered Jason, pointing off into the distance. He then checked his digital wristwatch and added, "S-Bahn usually comes every fifteen minutes. If we run, we might be able to catch it."

Tommy seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Three miles, you said?" he asked, Jason nodding. "And what time is it now?"

"Five-oh-eight," said Jason.

"We might as well just walk. It's only three miles."

"Alright, well let's get going then," said Jason.

Tommy nodded his head in agreement, and with that they headed off. Less than a quarter of a mile into their walk they turned a corner; what awaited them around the bend made Tommy freeze on the spot almost instantly, his eyes wide and his mouth agape as he stared down the street in disbelief.

"What's the matter, bro?" asked Jason. Tommy, however, did not reply. "Bro?" continued Jason, waving his hand in front of Tommy's face. "Bro, what the hell's going on?"

Suddenly Tommy blinked and snapped his attention to Jason. "Sorry," he muttered. "What were you saying?"

"What's going on?" said Jason, with narrowed eyes. "You just stopped and zoned out, man."

"I-I don't know, man," said Tommy, looking back down the street.

Jason half-rolled his eyes. "Come on, bro. You and I both know you've never been a good liar. Your eyes give it all away. What's bugging you, man?"

Tommy sighed and shook his head. "It's this dream I had last night," he answered. "More like a nightmare, actually," he amended. "I kept chasing this girl all over Europe—at least, I think it was Europe—and that," he pointed down the street, "is one of the streets that I chased her on. It just caught me off guard, that's all."

"Weird, bro," said Jason.

"Yeah, weird," said Tommy, shrugging.

As they continued to make their way through the streets of Vienna, it became obvious rather quickly that it was impossible to walk any significant length without stopping at least a few times to see what was in the many shops that lined the city. A walk that should have taken an hour or so ended up taking closer to two, but for Tommy and Jason it had been well worth spending the extra time to really get a feel for the Austrian capital city.

Finally, after turning down a crowded and narrow walkway that ran between the rows of shops and eateries on either side, Jason pointed and said, "There it is."

Tommy followed Jason's finger to a green, oval-shaped sign overhead, emblazoned with elegant silver lettering that read _**Figlmüller — **__Seit 1905____. _"The sign looks pretty fancy, bro," he commented. "Are you sure we're dressed alright?"

"Yeah, we should be fine," said Jason, Tommy shrugging as he followed his friend inside.

A blonde haired, blue eyed hostess who appeared to be in her early twenties greeted them with a polite smile, and for the next five minutes Tommy stood there in visible boredom as Jason chatted away with her in German.

In the few short hours that he had been abroad Tommy was already regretting having not learned a foreign language. He had taken two years of Spanish in high school and had needed hours of help from Billy just to scrape by with halfway decent marks. Now, however, as he was forced to watch Jason openly flirt with the Austrian beauty, he silently wished that he had Jason's multilingual fluency.

Then Jason turned around and said, "Let's go, man."

Tommy just nodded and followed; it was something he seemed to be doing quite a bit of recently. The hostess sat them at a short, picnic style table and directed their attention to the menus, which were written in chalk on blackboards mounted on either side of the room.

"You have to try the schnitzel, bro," commented Jason, as the hostess walked away. "I've had it in a few different cities and this was by far the best."

"That's the breaded and fried piece of pork, right?" questioned Tommy, trying to sound at least somewhat knowledgeable.

"Some places use pork, but that's not traditional schnitzel," answered Jason, Tommy's expression deflating slightly. "Real _Wiener Schnitzel_ is actually made with a really thin slice of veal. The name is actually protected by law in Austria. If it's made with pork it has to be called _Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein_."

"Dude," said Tommy. "How do you know all of this stuff?"

Jason laughed. "I don't know, man. I've always liked history, plus I spent two years living abroad in a country that has four official languages. You should see Trini, though. I can speak German and French, and Zack can speak Italian and bits of French, but Trini speaks all three fluently and even picked up some Romansh, which is absolutely crazy considering less than one percent of Switzerland actually speaks it."

"Sometimes I wish I'd gone to the peace conference," muttered Tommy, distantly.

"Oh, come on, bro," said Jason. "You and I both know you don't mean that."

Tommy looked away and said, "Maybe I do. I don't know, man. I feel so out of place and it's been less than a day."

"Tommy, you're in Europe for the first time," said Jason, laughing, "You're supposed to feel out of place. Trust me, man, it wasn't like I just showed up here on the first day and immediately knew everything. It took twoyears and even then, there's still a whole lot of shit that I don't know. When we go to places like Belgium and the Netherlands, I'm going to be just as lost as you, but if you ask me that's half the fun of it."

"I just—" started Tommy, sighing as a waiter appeared to take drink orders. Both men ordered beers—one of the few things Tommy could actually do in German—and when their waiter left he continued, "I don't even know what I'm trying to say, bro. I guess…I guess part of me is a bit jealous of all the stuff that you got to do. Sometimes I can barely handle English, you know?" he added, with something of a laugh.

Jason chuckled. "It's funny you say that, because it's the exact same way for me. I mean, yeah, I got to do some cool stuff that most people can never say they did at that age, but what you did in Angel Grove for three and a half years is bigger than anything that I did in Switzerland. It's not even a comparison. If it wasn't for you and the others doing what you did there wouldn't have even been a Switzerland for me to go to in the first place. Honestly, sometimes I wish that I had never left to begin with."

"What? Why?" questioned Tommy.

"Because, bro…you have no idea what a painful choice that was for me to make. For all three of us," said Jason, shaking his head. "When you left, it was never an option; it was something you were forced into and there was nothing you could do about it. But me…I chose to leave. Yeah, I knew that I was leaving the team in good hands, and Rocky turned out to be a damn good Ranger himself, but to this day there are still times where I feel like I turned my back on my duty by going to the peace conference. That's part of why I came back for gold…"

Tommy was on the verge of replying when their waiter reappeared with two tall glasses of house brewed pilsner. "Order for me," he muttered to Jason.

Jason rolled his eyes, looked to the waiter and said, "_Englisch?_"

"Of course," said the waiter called Klaus, whose sudden use of English immediately perked Tommy up. "Are you both ready to order?" Jason nodded towards Tommy, who asked for the Wiener Schnitzel. "With boiled potatoes or potato salad?" asked the waiter.

"Potato salad," said Tommy.

"_Auch der Wiener Schnitzel mit Kartoffelsalat, bitte,_" said Jason, ordering the exact same thing as Tommy.

"_Sehr gut,_" said Klaus, nodding politely before walking away.

Jason then took his glass, raised it and said, "To Europe."

Tommy grinned and clinked glasses with Jason as he echoed, "To Europe."

--

Several hours later saw Tommy and Jason riding the same train that they had taken to the Hofburg; the only difference with this trip was that, after exiting the train, they went right instead of left. It was well dark now, and as they walked the streets of Vienna they did so in the closest things to dress clothes that either had packed. Both wore jeans and long-sleeved, collared shirts; Tommy's shirt was a dark shade of green, while Jason went with basic black.

"What's this place called again?" asked Tommy, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Flex," said Jason, for the third time. "How can you not remember that? It's one freaking word!"

Tommy laughed and shrugged. "After this long, you should be surprised when I remember things, not when I don't."

"Touché, bro," chuckled Jason, keeping his eyes open for any sign of the nightclub. It was nearly fifteen minutes later when a bright, neon pink glow became visible from half a city block away. "I think that's it."

"How can you be sure?" said Tommy, squinting. "I can't even read the sign from here."

Jason shook his head. "I looked it up on my phone while you were in the shower and there were some pictures. One of them was of a big pink sign that said Flex. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen a whole lot of glowing pink signs around here."

Left without a comeback, Tommy appeared to be in pain as he struggled for something witty to throw at Jason. "Yeah?" he said. "Well-well you…your face looks like my butt."

"Tommy, we had gym class together, remember?" said Jason. "I've seen your ass and it is nowhere near the perfectly crafted gift to the world that is my face. It's like comparing a bottle of fine wine with that crap in the box; it just doesn't work, bro."

"And you say I'm in denial," replied Tommy, with a laugh.

Jason shot Tommy a look, but said nothing as they approached the glowing pink sign, the lettering of which became legible shortly thereafter. The sign read, in stylish cursive, Flex Café.

"A café?" said Tommy, furrowing his brow. "I thought this place was a nightclub."

"It is," said Jason. "The front part is the café. It's really more of a half-café half-bar, though, and there are tables on the other side of the building that overlook the Danube canal. The nightclub part is in the back."

"Wow," muttered Tommy, shaking his head. "I'm just going to call you Frommer's from now on, alright?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "Well, one of us has to at least kind of know what's going on, and since you're an uncultured fuckhead, I figured it would have to be me."

"Fuckhead, huh?" said Tommy, Jason nodding. "That's cute, bro. Just for comparison sake, how much does your head hurt right now? Because you and I both know that you've spent the last fifteen or so hours trying to come up with that one."

"Oh that's really rich, especially coming from the guy who can't tell Austria from Australia," replied Jason.

As they approached the door of Flex, Tommy said, "I might not know Austria from Australia, but if I wanted to, I could still kick your ass right here, right now. You're just lucky I have a sexy ass Australian waiting inside here for me or it'd be all over, bro."

Jason just shook his head and laughed as they entered the café section of the building. Soft, rhythmic music played in the room that was ten times as long as it was deep. A line of red cushioned stools sat in front of the bar that served coffee and espresso beverages along with the standard beer, wine and liquor.

"I'm going to grab a beer," said Tommy. "Do you want anything?"

"Yeah, I'll have a beer," answered Jason, Tommy nodding. "You sure you can handle that by yourself, bro?"

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Don't make me punch you, Jase," he replied, sharing a quick laugh with Jason before veering off towards the bar.

Arms folded across his chest, Jason stood at a short distance away and tried his hardest not to laugh as he watched—and listened to—Tommy attempting to order the drinks in German. He had no problem ordering one beer, but two…well, that was another story entirely. In the end, it took resorting to hand signals to get the drinks, but Tommy carried them back as proudly as if he had just carried a fluent German conversation.

As Tommy walked back towards him with a glass in each hand, Jason made a face and started waving his hands around wildly. "Is that official sign language, bro?" he asked, laughing.

"I got the beers, didn't I?" said Tommy, taking a drink from the glass in his right hand.

"Yeah, I guess I have to give you that," said Jason, extending his hand to receive the drink.

"Oh," said Tommy, downing the beer in his left hand in one long gulp before proceeding to the other glass and doing the same. "Did you want one, too?" He then made a face like Jason's and began clinking the glasses together, trying to look as idiotic as he possibly could.

"Alright, I deserved that," conceded Jason, with a single nod of his head. "But now neither one of us has anything to drink.

"Not true," said Tommy, grinning. He then walked back to the bar, set the glasses down and, as he returned to Jason, pulled a brown glass bottle from his back pocket. "You don't have anything to drink."

"You're a dick," muttered Jason, chuckling.

Tommy just shrugged, watching and waiting as Jason walked off to get a beer. A few minutes later, Jason returned and started leading the way towards the back of the building, where loud house music could be heard thumping on the other side of what had to be a very thin wall.

"Oh God," said Tommy, holding his hand against his ear. "Apparently Eminem was wrong; people do listen to techno. Not that that's an excuse," he added, wincing slightly. "How do people actually listen to that stuff?"

"It's Europe, bro," said Jason, sort of helplessly. "Sometimes you just have to go along with what you get and not ask questions. I'm definitely with you on the music, man, but unfortunately this is one of those times."

"House music makes me sad," muttered Tommy, sarcastically.

Jason laughed. "It's not like in the States, man. It's not going to be pacifiers, glow sticks and Ecstasy. Actually," he continued, pausing briefly, "I take that back. It's probably going to be all those things. Just try to concentrate on the fact that Katja is easily a nine-point-five, which is something like seventeen and a third if you're using the metric system."

"You're so retarded," said Tommy, laughing as well as they stepped through the entranceway that led to the actually nightclub. The main lights had been turned off, though the large room was still illuminated by an array of multi-colored strobe and spot lights, not to mention the dozen or so disco balls that hung from various places in the ceiling. "I'm not sure I like European nightclubs very much, bro," he added, cautiously.

"Katja, man," said Jason, firmly. "Just think about Katja."

"Right, Kim," said Tommy, nodding, an expression of horror crossing his face as he realized whose name he had just uttered. Shaking his head furiously, he quickly amended, "Katja, I meant Katja; not Kim, Katja."

Jason narrowed his glare towards his best friend, but said nothing despite clearly being able to see the lie in Tommy's eyes. Still, he tucked that comment away with a firm mental reminder to revisit it at another time.

"Do you see her?" said Jason, yelling over the music as he looked around the club for any sign of Katja or her friends.

"No! You?" replied Tommy, just as loudly.

"If I could see her I wouldn't have—" started Jason, pausing to shake his head as he continued, "Forget it. Hey, I think that's them!" he added, pointing to a small group of women on the opposite end of the club.

They were all standing in a fairly tight circle and at the center was a blonde who appeared to be similar in height to what Jason could vaguely remember of Katja. From behind, it was the best that he could do.

"Only one way to find out!" said Tommy.

Jason nodded his agreement, and with that they started towards the group of women. They were halfway there, weaving their way in and out of clusters of dancing people, when one of the girls on the outside of the circle pointed their way, directing the blonde's attention to them.

The moment Tommy saw her face he announced, "That's her!"

"You sure?"

"Positive!" said Tommy. With Jason at his side, he approached the circle with visible confidence. As soon as the circle opened up, however, granting him a clear path to the stunning blonde dressed in a black leather miniskirt and strapless white top, all that he could manage to do was creep the rest of the way and timidly mutter, "_Hallo_."

Katja smiled briefly and then proceeded to launch into a thirty second diatribe in rapid German that left Tommy staring at her with his mouth hanging open. She ended her speech by taking a sip from the crimson-colored cocktail she was holding, but the look on Tommy's face as she went to swallow made her laugh, drops of liquid sputtering from her lips as she hurriedly covered her mouth.

"They call that an 'ice breaker' in America, yes?" said Katja.

Her English was obviously accented, but not so much that Tommy had any difficulty understanding her. "Yeah, that's definitely an ice breaker," he answered, laughing as well. "I'm Tommy," he continued, extending his hand.

"Katja," she replied, taking his hand with a smile. "You looked cute at the train station, but the closer view is even better."

"Thanks," said Tommy, smiling awkwardly. "You too."

At that point one of the other girls said something to Katja, who momentarily shifted her attention away from Tommy, which allowed him to look back at Jason and mutter, "What's she saying, bro?"

"She's probably asking why a girl as hot as Katja is wasting her time on a guy like you," answered Jason, grinning.

Tommy was about to reply but, before he could, a hand seized his shirt and spun him back around. "Come," said Katja, gently taking his hand, "Dance."

"Okay," sputtered Tommy, allowing himself to be lead onto the dance floor as he looked back at Jason, who winked and nodded encouragingly. Next moment Tommy was dancing, Katja's body pressed tightly against his.

"Tell me about yourself, Tommy," whispered Katja, her arms slinked around his neck.

Tommy swallowed hard; there were very few things that he absolutely could not stand, but talking about himself was definitely one of them. Still, when a gorgeous blonde shows interest in you and asks you to do something, it's usually pretty hard to say no. This particular instance was no exception to the rule.

For a few minutes Tommy awkwardly told her about his life as they danced closely, forced to leave out many of his happiest moments because they seemingly always revolved around being a Ranger in some way or another. She seemed fairly interested in what he had to say, reacting just enough when he said something particularly funny or serious to keep him talking.

Exactly like it would be with any other guy, Tommy's confidence started to rise whenever she laughed at one of his jokes, always wearing an expression as though whatever he was saying was the only thing in the world that she cared about. This kept going on until Tommy began thinking that he was going to run out of things he could actually talk about, but long after that point he was still talking as he and Katja danced and drank the night away.

The more Tommy drank the more his urge to spend the night with Katja took control, meaning he cared very little about the fact that Jason was currently surrounded by Katja's four friends at a table on the other side of the club, receiving similar treatment to what Tommy was getting on the dance floor.

It was nearly one in the morning when Katja announced that she was going outside for some fresh air and that she would very much enjoy it if Tommy accompanied her. Before Tommy could even answer she had taken his hand, pulling him along as she headed for the exit. Fresh air, however, was not what Katja was after.

As soon as they had stepped into the cool night air she whirled around and seized Tommy by his shirt, pulling him down to her level and kissing him hard. Tommy responded the only that way he knew how, returning the kiss as he took Katja by the waist with one hand and lead her to a darkened corner nearby.

The next hour or so became something of a whirlwind after that. When Tommy suddenly found himself being thrown onto a bed that was not the one he had rented for the evening, he was hard pressed to recall exactly how he had even gotten there in the first place. He could vaguely remember fending off Katja's over-the-top advances long enough to send Jason a text message from the back of a taxi cab, but everything else was blurred pieces of memory that made very little sense in his inebriated state.

"Would you like something to drink?" said Katja, standing a few short feet away from Tommy.

Though he knew that he was well past his limit, Tommy shrugged and replied, "I'll take a peer, blease. I mean beer, please," he added, looking embarrassed for just a moment before he burst out laughing at himself.

Giggling, Katja nodded and said, "I'll be right back."

Tommy just laid back and watched her walk away with his hands behind his head and a wide grin on his face. "Hate to see her go, but love to watch her come—wait, that's not it," he muttered, chuckling. "It's, Hate to see her go, but love to _make_ her come. Ha-ha, Tommy, you're so funny. You always make me laugh."

He had no trouble keeping himself amused for the next few minutes and, when Katja finally returned with a beer bottle in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, he was laughing at another joke that only he had heard. It took him a moment to realize it, but he stopped laughing as soon as he saw that she was wearing nothing more than a black g-string.

"Damn," he breathed, blinking rapidly.

"You like?" said Katja, doing a whirl. Tommy could only nod. "Good," she continued, extending the bottle to Tommy as she added, "For you."

"Thanks," said Tommy. Smiling, he accepted the bottle and took a long sip. Less than a minute later, everything went black.

--

The first thing to pop into Tommy's mind upon waking several hours later was that he would have much preferred spending the rest of the day fighting Goldar than dealing with his head pounding like it was currently doing. The next was that he was still wearing his clothes from the night before. Slowly his eyes fluttered open, his head a cloudy mess as he tried to recall what had happened to make him feel this way.

"It wasn't the booze," he muttered, struggling to push himself up and into something of a sitting position.

He slowly looked around the room—the nearby digital clock-radio read six-forty-seven in the morning—vaguely able to recall the cab ride that had gotten him there. Katja had told him it was her apartment—and in his drunken state he had believed her—but now it was apparent that this room was probably one of many in what was undoubtedly a very cheap hotel. The bedspread was covered in a thin layer of yellowish dust, the wallpaper was peeled back in multiple places, and there was a foul odor in the room that smelled something like ammonia mixed with burning, unwashed socks.

Tommy lurched as he took in another whiff of the stench. "I have to get out of here," he muttered. Quickly, he tried to push himself onto his feet, but ended up groaning loudly and falling back onto the bed when his attempt at moving too fast made his head explode with pain.

Though he had never been a huge drinker by any stretch of the imagination, Tommy was experienced enough to know that this headache was not the result of an ordinary hangover. Almost instantly, a horrified look crossed his face.

"Shit!" he yelled, bolting onto his feet even as his forehead seared. His hands immediately went to his pants; after giving himself a thorough shakedown, a small sigh of relief escaped his lips as he realized that all of his personal artifacts were still on him. Then, upon retrieving and opening his wallet…

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!!" he bellowed, using every ounce of self-control that he could muster in an effort not to put his fist through a wall. All the cash that he had taken to the club, his debit and credit cards...if it had any monetary value whatsoever, it was gone. The only things he had left were his California driver's license, his Reefside High School faculty badge, an expired coupon for a free cup of coffee, and a handful of business and insurance cards.

Grabbing his cell phone from his pocket, he held down the 2-key—Jason's speed-dial button—for a few seconds and waited impatiently as he listened to the line ring. Finally, after five rings, he heard a click.

"Good night, eh?" said Jason, groggily.

"Fuck no," said Tommy. "What time is it in California right now?"

"What? Why?" asked Jason, confused.

"No time to explain right now," answered Tommy, who then repeated his question.

"I don't know, man," Jason yawned. "I have no idea what time it is right now. Pacific Time is nine hours behind us, though. Why, what's going on, bro?"

"Nothing, I'll call you back," said Tommy. As soon as he had ended the call, he dialed another number and rolled his eyes when an automated voice answered the line. He spent the next few minutes inputting a series of numbers, and then was forced to wait on hold for five more minutes until an actual human being came on the line.

For the next thirty minutes he sat on the edge of the bed, calling the different banks he used to cancel all of his cards and to check on any fraud. He was relieved to find that all of the large transactions attempted over the past few hours had been blocked—thousands of dollars on one transaction that was done internationally usually raised quite a few red flags in the fraud detection departments at most major banks—but that had not stopped a handful of transactions ranging between fifty and seven-hundred dollars from clearing his accounts.

Luckily he did not keep more than a couple thousand dollars in his checking accounts at any given time, and most of his money was safely tucked away in heavily protected savings and investment accounts that only he had access to. Still, as he went about filing the necessary fraud claims, he could not help but to feel as if he had just been punched in the stomach repeatedly.

It was nearly eight o'clock when at last he collapsed back onto the dusty bed, having called everyone he possibly could to make sure that Katja would no longer be able to access his bank accounts. Sick to his stomach at how taken advantage of he felt, he closed his eyes and initiated one last call, this one a return to Jason.

"What the fuck is going on?" demanded Jason, right after the line had clicked over.

Tommy sighed. "Katja took everything, man. All the money I had on me, my bank and credit cards…everything."

"What? How?" said Jason, his tone switching from irritated to concerned almost instantly.

"I don't know, bro. Honestly, I don't really remember a whole lot of what happened last night," said Tommy, proceeding to tell Jason what little information he could recall.

"So, what, you drank too much, passed out, and she took all your stuff?" said Jason.

Scoffing, Tommy replied, "I know I drank too much, but it definitely wasn't alcohol that knocked me out. All I remember is that she brought me a beer; after that, I don't remember anything up until an hour or so ago."

"You think she drugged you?" asked Jason.

"She must have. I can't think of anything—" started Tommy, falling silent when someone began knocking loudly. "Hold on a second," he added, walking to the door. He pulled the door open and furrowed his brow upon seeing a portly, balding, middle-aged man standing in the hallway.

"Uh, can I help you?" asked Tommy.

"_Du musst jetzt gehen!_" barked the man.

"Wait, what?" asked Tommy, visibly confused.

"_Dummer Amerikaner!_" said the man. Even Tommy could figure out what that meant. "_Du musst jetzt gehen!_" he repeated.

Blinking rapidly, Tommy brought the phone back to his ear and said, "This guy's yelling at me in German and I have no clue what he's saying. I'm going to put you on speaker. Ask him to repeat what he said and then translate for me, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, alright," said Jason, who did what Tommy had asked and then continued, "He said that you have to leave now."

"That's fine with me," said Tommy, chuckling bitterly. He then tried to make his way past the pudgy man, who he reasoned was some kind of hotel employee, but was stopped with a meaty hand to his chest.

"_Der Zimmer ist zweihundert euro!_" yelled the hotel worker.

"What'd he say?" asked Tommy, to Jason.

"He said the room is two hundred Euros," answered Jason, grimacing from his position on his bed back at the hostel. He then proceeded to go back and forth with the Austrian man for the next few minutes, Tommy looking more and more confused with each passing second. Finally, Jason returned to English and said, "I tried to tell him what happened with your wallet, but he doesn't care. He said you either pay him the two hundred Euros or you're going to regret it for a very, very long time."

For a brief moment Tommy wore a contemplative look. "Jason," he finally said, more a question than anything else.

"Yeah?" replied Jason.

"Don't hang up," said Tommy. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Tommy, wait—" began Jason, but that was all that Tommy heard.

Dropping his phone back into his pocket, Tommy returned his attention to the chubby man and said, "I'm leaving now. If you know what's good for you, you'll let me go."

Again, Tommy tried to push past the man, but again he was stopped. "I don't think so," he replied. Tommy's eyes went wide when he heard English. "_Bruno, Gerhard! Komm her!_" he roared. It took all of ten seconds for two burly, imposing, well built Austrian men to come bounding down the hallway side-by-side. "Either you pay, or you deal with them," he added.

Closing his eyes, an irritated Tommy sighed and said, "Fine, have it your way."

This time, when he tried to walk out of the room the man didn't stop him. Instead, the enforcer called Gerhard threw a haymaker punch at Tommy's head that the former Power Ranger was just narrowly able to avoid.

"Bad move, pal," muttered Tommy, whipping around and slamming his elbow right into Bruno's face. Just as quickly he spun back around and executed a beautiful snapping side kick that connected with Gerhard's chin, snapping the muscular man's head back violently.

Looking around wildly, Tommy saw that both of the larger men had been momentarily fazed and that their boss was wearing a fearful expression after seeing what Tommy was capable of. Realizing that this was his chance to escape, he took of running and did not stop until he had reached the opposite end of the hallway, at which point he looked back to see Bruno and Gerhard lumbering after him.

"Shit," said Tommy, shaking his head. "They're way too big to be moving that fast."

Big as they were, though, the pair of men came charging so quickly that Tommy was left with no other choice but to spin on his heels and take off sprinting once more. Digging his phone from his pocket as he ran, he brought it to his ear and said, "Stay with me, buddy."

"What's going on?" asked Jason.

"Just hang on," said Tommy. "I'll be back in a minute," he added, gripping his phone as he burst through a door leading to the stairwell. Tommy rolled his eyes upon seeing the red numerical twelve painted on the adjacent wall.

Taking the steps two and three at a time, it was not until he had reached the sixth floor that he looked back to see Bruno and Gerhard just one level behind him. Gathering every bit of strength that he could muster, he forced himself to move faster until at last he hit the ground floor with Bruno and Gerhard still on his tail.

There were only a few people in the hotel lobby, but somehow each and every one of them ended up crossing Tommy's path at one point or another. Most of them he was able to avoid, but one or two ended up sprawled out on the lobby floor as a result of being in the wrong place at the worst time possible.

Only when he had pushed through the lobby door and entered the morning air did he return to Jason. "Alright, here's the deal," he breathed, turning right and running with no idea as to where he was going. "I'm on _Gro__ße Sperlgasse_. I need to know where the closest Eurail station is and I need you to meet me there with my backpack as soon as fucking possible."

"Dude, what in the hell is going on?" said Jason.

"The guy at the hotel said I either had to pay or regret not paying," answered Tommy as he ran down the streets of Vienna. "Well, it turns out my regret was going to come from two very large guys who looked like the freaking Terminator. I got away, but now they're chasing me through the city. Hurry up and tell me what I need to do, alright?"

"Jesus H. Christ, man!" exclaimed Jason, somewhere in between amused and frustrated. "You and Kim are about the only two people I know who could actually get themselves caught up in something as ridiculous as this!"

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I really don't need that right now, bro. Are you going to help me or what?"

Jason laughed. "Don't worry, Neo, Morpheus is going to get you out of the building."

"Neo got caught in that scene, remember?"

"Only because he was too much of a bitch to get to the scaffold," said Jason. "Give me a second to pull up the directions on my phone. If you can, find somewhere to hide for a few minutes."

"I'm not going to be able to hide," replied Tommy. "Its way too crowded out here and these guys don't seem like they're going to let me put that much space between them, anyway," he added, weaving his way in between pedestrians. "Seriously, bro, I need your help. Just get me out of here as fast as you can, alright?"

"I'm already moving, man," said Jason. "I've got your stuff and I'm on my way to the station. You're going to need to go straight for a mile or so and then take a right at _Siebernsterngasse_. You didn't have your passport and train stuff on you, did you?"

"No," answered Tommy, his heart pounding as he pushed his way through the morning crowd. He was trying to avoid injuring anyone else in his attempt to get free, but judging by the noises coming from behind him, it did not sound as though Bruno and Gerhard were giving their fellow countrymen the same courtesy. "At least I don't think so," he added, a few seconds later. "Do me a favor and check my backpack. Open up the main section; on the inside and to the right is another zipper. My stuff should be in there."

It took Jason a couple of minutes, but eventually he came back and said, "Yeah, it's all here. I still can't believe you got yourself into a mess like this, bro. I think this is one of those stories you'll be telling your grandkids about. If you make it out in one piece, that is."

Tommy laughed dryly. "Hardy-har-har," he replied. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy."

"Anytime," chuckled Jason. "Oh, and just so you know, if there was any doubt in your mind as to who the better leader was, this whole situation right here should officially put it to rest. Notice how none of this crazy shit is happening to _me_…"

"That's because you're too much of a pansy to take the risks that I do," said Tommy. "This one was definitely a shitty decision, I'll give you that, but ninety-nine percent of the time they end up working out. I'll take those odds any day of the week, man."

"Any day except a Saturday in Vienna," quipped Jason, with a laugh.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "What street do I take a right at again?" he asked, squinting to read the street signs as he approached an intersection.

"_Siebernsterngasse_," said Jason.

"Alright, this is it then," said Tommy, veering right around a corner, nearly taking out half a dozen people in the process.

"Good," said Jason. "Three streets up, turn left."

"Three streets, then left; got it."

"Are those guys still chasing you?"

Tommy looked back briefly. "I don't know," he replied. "It's too crowded to tell but, to be honest, I really don't care. I'm not stopping until I'm on a train out of this—" he paused, stopping at the corner of the street, and then a moment later muttered, "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh? Why uh-oh?" said Jason. "What's going on?"

"Well, I've got good news and bad news," said Tommy, narrowing his eyes. "The good news is that they stopped chasing me for awhile."

"And the bad news?" asked Jason.

"They're back and they're on motorcycles. I'm going to run now."

"Good idea," said Jason.

Tommy did not hear him, though. He was too busy dodging automobile traffic as he ran across the street, the two Vespa bikes approaching rapidly from the other direction.

"Tommy! Tommy, can you hear me?" yelled Jason.

"I got ya!" answered Tommy. "I don't really have the time to chat, though!"

"There's a park about a quarter of a mile west! You might be able to lose them there!"

"Goddammit," grumbled Tommy, shaking his head. "I did not come to Europe for this shit."

Jason gave a half-chuckle at that, while Tommy took a quick left down the sidewalk. At that point, the two men swerved to follow him and brought their vehicles onto the sidewalk as well, causing civilians to scatter in every direction as Bruno and Gerhard continued their chase.

Unfortunate as it was, their lack of care for the people around them ended up being a benefit to the fleeing Tommy. Multiple times they were left with no other options except to brake and swerve, slowing them down just enough to keep a small bit of distance between them and Tommy. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he came across the park that Jason had spoken of; it just wasn't what Tommy was expecting.

Instead of playgrounds and trees and other obstacles that he could use to his advantage, all he had to work with was a large spread of green grass and a few small trees dotted throughout the wide open field.

"This is some park you lead me to, bro," said Tommy, who was now running across the lawn. "It's just grass and a few trees. I might as well be standing in the middle of rush hour traffic in L.A. with a giant bulls-eye painted on my chest."

"Sorry, bro," said Jason. "The map just said there was a park. It didn't say what kind."

"Yeah," said Tommy, wincing when he heard the motorbikes catching up to him once more. Looking around for somewhere to hide, he realized there was nothing he could use whatsoever. Letting out a sigh, he knew that there was only one other option. "I'll be back in a second," he added, setting his phone down carefully.

Slowly, Tommy turned around to see Bruno and Gerhard, side-by-side as they headed straight for him. A half-cocked grin crossed Tommy's lips at that point; then he shook his head and started running right at them. The two men shared confused looks, slowing down slightly as it seemed that Tommy was at long last giving up.

This was exactly what Tommy had wanted them to do.

In a matter of seconds he was less than fifteen feet away from the pair. At the last possible moment he changed direction just enough so that, if he was to continue running, he would run right in between them. Instead of running, however, he sprung towards Bruno on his left and kicked him in the chest, using the sturdy surface as a launch pad to Gerhard, who was also the recipient of a similar kick. Both men went flying from their cycles, which in turn sped off wildly for a few moments before tumbling over onto the grass.

Tommy looked back at the cycles, knowing that now was the time to make a firm escape, but something deep inside of him drove him to approach the grounded men, both of whom appeared to be in a great deal of pain and were doing very little in the way of moving. Standing tall over the pair, Tommy lowered himself into a squat, took a fistful of shirt in each hand and forcefully yanked Bruno and Gerhard into seated positions, their heads slumped and their eyes groggy.

"Well, boys," he said tauntingly. "I'd say we all learned a valuable lesson today, wouldn't you? Now, before I leave you two, there's just one more thing that I want to say. FUCK YOU!" he yelled as he slammed their heads together.

Laughing, Tommy whirled back around and ran to retrieve his cell phone before heading over to one of the motorbikes, the engines of which were still running. Tommy quickly killed one of the engines, pocketing the key as he climbed onto the other cycle. He then brought the phone to his ear and said, "Well, I don't think we have to worry about me getting chased anymore. I think it's probably still a good idea to get out of Vienna in a hurry, though."

"Let me guess," said Jason. "Neither one is going to feel very good when they come back around, right?"

Tommy laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I'll fill you in once we're on the train. How do I get to the station?"

Once Jason had given him the directions, it did not take Tommy long to reach the train station now that he had a means of transportation that moved increasingly faster than his legs. Some ten minutes later he pulled to a stop alongside a curb that fronted a few different shops and eateries, a nearby staircase leading underground. Hopping off the motorbike, he immediately began looking around for Jason, but there was no sign of him; nor was he downstairs, either.

Seated on a stone bench, Tommy waited for a few more minutes and was just about to call Jason when the former Red Ranger came bounding down the stairs with his backpack strapped around his shoulders and Tommy's in hand. As soon as they met eyes from a distance of twenty-five feet Jason started laughing heartily. Not only was Tommy's appearance disheveled from the night before, it had been made exponentially worse by the chase through Vienna.

"You look like hell," commented Jason, handing over the backpack to Tommy.

"Thanks," muttered Tommy, rolling his eyes as he threw his backpack on.

"Hey, I'm here for you, pal," replied Jason, laughing as he patted Tommy's shoulder.

Tommy shook his head. "So, where are we headed to, anyways?"

"Switzerland," answered Jason, Tommy nodding. "The train leaves in twenty minutes."

"How long is it to Switzerland?" questioned Tommy, as a train rumbled into the station, stopping at the platform across from the pair.

"About nine hours to Zurich, little less than twelve to Geneva," said Jason, shrugging.

"So we're done with Austria then? There's nothing else to see here?" asked Tommy, furrowing his brow.

Jason laughed. "Oh, there's plenty more to see in Austria, but from the sound of it, you just physically assaulted two guys. I think it's probably best if we get out of the country, you know what I mean?"

"Dude, it was self-defense!" replied Tommy. "It was either that or get the shit kicked out of me! I can't get in trouble for that!"

"Sure you can," said Jason. "First off, you're a foreigner; that's strike number one. Secondly, if it ever got that far, there's two of them and one of you. Let's see, a corroborated story from two locals saying some crazy American beat the crap out of them for no reason…hmm, I wonder who wins that one."

"Yeah, you're right," said Tommy, half-sighing half-laughing. "You know, my mom called me the night before we left all worried that I was going to get in trouble over here. Now I see why. We've been in Austria for, like, a day and a half and I already have to flee the goddamn country."

Jason chuckled. "Yeah, but like I said earlier, you have a pretty damn good story to tell your grandkids when you get older."

Tommy could only nod as they stood there, waiting for the train that would eventually take them away from this country, a place that he vowed he would never visit again as long as he lived. Several minutes later, he turned to Jason and said, "You know, I'm kind of glad I didn't do anything with Katja last night."

"Oh yeah?" said Jason, raising an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Tommy shrugged. "Don't get me wrong; I mean, she was definitely hot and everything, but I can't help getting the feeling that someone else is out there waiting for me as we speak. I know it sounds weird, but I've felt this way before, and when I do it usually leads to something pretty damn big."

Jason just smiled.

Oh, how little Tommy truly knew…


	3. Swiss Discussions

_**Title: Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter Three — Swiss Revelations**_

_**Original Posting Date: July, 2009**_

_**A/N: The wonderful and amazing Liz at the Perfect Chemistry forum has done some incredible art for this story. I've posted the links on my homepage here. Please, check her pictures out and leave some kind words. Her work is seriously awesome, and I promise you won't be disappointed!  
**_

--

It was just starting to get dark outside, which Tommy had the misfortune of having to notice as he listened to Jason snoring loudly from the top bunk in their shared train compartment. No sooner had they gotten on the train eight hours prior than a fierce debate broke out over who was going to get the top bunk. It might have seemed like a silly argument, but, well, _everyone_ knows that the top bunk is always cooler than the bottom. In the end, when neither was willing to budge from their stance even a little bit, it came down to what it always did when they could not verbally resolve a dispute.

Tommy's paper had covered Jason's rock in the first round, but back-to-back scissors from the first Red Ranger had left Tommy grumbling under his breath as Jason leapt onto the top bunk with a wide grin and a childish giggle. That had been quite some time ago, and though they had gotten off the train at a few of its stops to eat and buy supplies, most of Tommy's time spent had been stuffed inside the compartment.

The first few hours had not been so bad; he had music and movies on his iPod plus the Internet on his cell phone to keep him occupied. Then, about four hours into the trip, his iPod battery had died. An hour later, his cell phone had followed suit. The last two hours had been spent listening to Jason snore, which was so loud that Tommy could not fall asleep no matter how desperately he wanted to. He was not tired by any means, but at least if he was asleep he would not be subjected to the snores that Tommy had long ago determined were the most lifelike re-creation of a thunderclap that he had ever heard.

Not just from a human, either.

Closing his eyes, Tommy silently prayed that they stayed in Zurich for the night — which was only another hour or so away — instead of going straight to Geneva — an additional three hours by train — as Jason had mentioned doing earlier in the afternoon.

Though he had not intended to, Tommy gave a deep yawn and slowly flipped over onto his side. In less than five minute's time, he too was fast asleep. Aside from his drug-induced mini-coma the night before, every time Tommy had gone to sleep since Thursday night — four days ago — he had been plagued with the same dream. This time, however, he was pleasantly surprised to see that he would not be chasing anyone through Europe; for now, at least.

There was a bright flash of white light and suddenly he was standing in the hallways of Angel Grove High School. He watched on with a fond smile as his younger self approached the high school bullies, Bulk and Skull, from behind, proceeding into an expert display of martial arts that left the pair fleeing at the first possible opportunity. This gave young Tommy the opening he needed to look right into the eyes of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, barely acknowledge her, and then turn right around and walk away like a damn fool.

"Hey!" she called out, getting him to stop and look back. "Um…I'm Kimberly," she continued, clutching a pink binder to her chest, smiling brightly as he started back towards her. "You're new around here, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm Tommy," said the younger version, shaking hands with Kimberly.

"Goddamn, Tommy, you look like such an idiot," commented Tommy, running his hand through his hair as he watched their conversation unfold. "I mean, really, a mullet? What in the hell made you think you could actually pull that look off? Granted, Kim liked it, but still…"

Right when young Tommy took off running towards the stairs after agreeing to a meeting he would never make, the scene began to change. Suddenly he was no longer at the high school; now he was in the Youth Center only a few days later, staring at his younger self lifting weights. Kimberly was there as well, and had just told him that she knew his identity as Rita Repulsa's evil Green Ranger.

Young Tommy slammed the weights back hard, staring angrily at Kimberly as he replied, "Well then, Pink Ranger, you should also know that you and the other Power Rangers will soon be destroyed."

"Let us help you," said Kimberly. "We can break Rita's spell."

"Rita is my empress," said young Tommy, rising to his feet and closing what little distance remained between he and Kimberly before adding, "And she will soon rule the world."

"Tommy, please," pleaded Kimberly, desperately, taking his arm, "Let us help you."

Yanking his arm away, young Tommy pointed at Kimberly, his eyes flashing green. "You have been warned," he said firmly, walking away.

Tommy could not help but to feel a pang of guilt in his heart as he gazed upon the somewhat confused — and very much hurt — expression on Kimberly's face. No, he had not been in control of his actions then, but to this day he had not been able to fully forgive himself for what he had done back then; specifically to Kimberly, who had been nothing but sweet, even going out of her way to befriend him on his first day of school.

He did not have much time to think on this though, as once again the scene around him began to change. Soon, he was standing near a tree in Angel Grove Park, this time watching his younger self going through a graceful kata on a stone platform overlooking the lake. Once again, Kimberly was there too. When the younger Tommy noticed her, he immediately stopped his routine and stood straight.

"They said back at the gym I'd find you here," proclaimed Kimberly, smiling.

"Yeah," said young Tommy, hopping down and approaching her as he continued, "I like practicing outside sometimes…smell the fresh air."

"How are you doing?" questioned Kimberly, her concern for him evident in both her tone of voice and expression.

"I'm hanging," answered young Tommy, hands on his hips. "I've been practicing my karate, focusing on my school work…I'm just trying to keep busy, you know?"

Tommy half-smiled as he watched on, remembering vividly what a tough time the days leading up to that moment had been for him, having had to deal with what he thought at that time to be the permanent loss of his Green Ranger powers at the hands of Rita's Green Candle. Tears actually touched his eyes when his younger self stooped down to place a single, fleeting kiss to Kimberly's lips. It had been his first, and in the days to come he would learn that it had been her first as well.

Again, though, the scene was changing before he could give it any real thought. This continued on for quite some time as he went through various memories from his teenaged years, all of them involving Kimberly in one way or another. Ultimately losing his Green Ranger powers for good; Kimberly fainting in the Command Center upon seeing him remove the White Ranger helmet; a date in the park where he had given her a piggyback ride, spinning her around in circles just to see her smile and hear her laugh; these were most definitely some of his happiest moments with the Pink Ranger.

But then he was in a hospital room, watching his younger self stare at Kimberly as she slept, clutching a stuffed animal that he had brought to cheer her up following her accident that had occurred when she had fallen from a balance beam.

"It was pretty much downhill from there, wasn't it old friend?" said Tommy, to his younger self, knowing that the boy could neither hear nor reply.

Sure, there was her return over the winter holidays later that year, saving Santa Claus's workshop from Lord Zedd and kissing Kimberly under the mistletoe, but that was about it as far as pleasant memories went. What had started off as a happy stroll down memory lane quickly turned into a nightmare so dreadful it should have taken place on Elm Street.

Tommy was forced to watch on as a young and embarrassed Adam Park read Kimberly's breakup letter out loud to all of their friends. Then there was her return to Angel Grove and subsequent kidnap at the hands of the evil space pirate, Divatox. He had tried so hard to make her see how much he still loved her back then, but once she had been freed from Maligore's spell and the karate tournament had been won she was on the first plane back to Miami.

He had hated her for so very long after that…

Suddenly he was in a dark room, staring at a version of himself that could not have been more than a few years younger than he was now. The only noticeable difference between the two Tommy's was the lack of facial hair on the younger one; that and the fact that the older Tommy was not dressed up like the Fonz. The younger Tommy was sitting on the corner of a bed and sipping a beer, staring at the door on the opposite end of the wall with intent in his eyes. Then the door opened and a shadowy figure entered the room.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up," commented young Tommy.

"That's the thing about me," said Kimberly, emerging from the shadows. "You never really know what I'm going to do."

The first thing that the older Tommy recognized was that this Kimberly definitely was not the girl he had gone to high school with. Physically, they were similar — she was still as beautiful as eve r— but that was where the comparisons ended. Her hair was somewhat lighter than Tommy remembered, and that air of innocence she had carried in her younger days was gone completely, replaced by the confidence of a woman who knew what she wanted and was not afraid to go after it, consequences be damned.

She approached the bed with a sultry grin, leaving both Tommy's staring at her with their mouths agape. She had on a plaid mini skirt, a white blouse that was tied to expose her midriff and unbuttoned to expose her cleavage, and her hair was done in pigtails with pink bows. She was also wearing a pair of stylish black reading glasses that, at least to Tommy, gave her an extra hint of sexiness.

"I like a girl that's spontaneous," said the younger Tommy, smiling up at Kimberly as she stood before him.

With her hands on his shoulders, Kimberly slowly straddled him. Bringing her lips to his ear, she seductively whispered, "Then I'm your girl."

"I wonder if it's bad that I don't even feel remotely weird watching this," mused the older Tommy aloud.

Unfortunately, he did not get to watch for very much longer. The second Kimberly had begun passionately kissing his younger self, Tommy was awakened by Jason, who was repeatedly saying his name and pushing him on the shoulder.

As Tommy's eyes lazily fluttered open, he turned to Jason and said, "I fucking hate you so much right now."

Jason laughed. "Good dream?" he asked.

"It was alright," answered Tommy, thankful that he was on his side and underneath a blanket. His words might have said one thing, but a certain body part was saying something else entirely. "Where are we?" he continued.

"We're about ten minutes away from Zurich," said Jason, yawning slightly. "I figured we could hang out there tonight and tomorrow during the day, then head on to Geneva tomorrow night.

"Works for me," said Tommy, nodding. "The first thing we need to do is find where we're staying for the night, though. My cell phone and iPod are both dead. Do you have any idea how loud you snore, man?"

"I do not snore, bro," replied Jason, grinning broadly

Tommy rolled his eyes and very simply muttered, "Fuck you, dude. Fuck you."

Jason chuckled. "Right back atcha, sweetheart. Now hurry up and get your ass out of bed. The train's not going to wait long once it stops."

Grumbling a few choice words to himself beneath his breath Tommy climbed out of bed and started checking his backpack to make sure he had everything, all the while wishing that his dream had lasted just a few more minutes.

--

Tucked away on a small street corner in the north-west quadrant of Zurich was a dimly lit, slightly smoky billiard hall called _Billardino_. Tommy and Jason, clad in jeans and tee shirts, had taken to a table at the back of the room and were currently engaged in a heated game of 8-Ball, easily their twentieth game since they had made the short quarter of a mile walk from their hostel some three hours prior.

There was a half-full pitcher of beer on a counter against the wall and a half-eaten basket of fried fish and chips (one of the only things on the menu Tommy felt safe ordering) sitting next to the plastic container; the former had long since gone warm, and the latter was stone cold, neither having been touched since the competitiveness of their games had started heating up well over two hours ago.

Had they been playing with anyone else but each other they would not have cared nearly as much, but when it came to Tommy and Jason, if what they were doing was something that they could compete in then compete they would. Rarely was there ever a firm winner; more often than not, they would just keep going until neither could go on any longer or something else more important intervened, which once again seemed to be the case tonight.

"Come on, Jase," whispered Tommy, standing a few feet behind Jason as he lined up a shot. "You can do it, buddy. Just remember, nice and easy. Don't choke on this one, alright?"

Jason looked back over his shoulder, glaring at Tommy as he muttered, "You say another word and I'll choke _you_."

Tommy smiled. "Just like on Murianthis," he replied, with an air of sarcastic condescendence. "You're still not using your brain power."

Ignoring Tommy, Jason focused on his shot and, with ease, sunk the striped nine-ball into the left side pocket. Only then did he look back at Tommy and say, "At least I have brain power to use, bro."

Chuckling, Tommy shook his head. "Why do we do this, man?"

"Do what?" questioned Jason, looking up at Tommy from his hunched over position at the other end of the table as he aimed another shot.

"_This_," said Tommy. "I mean, we've been playing pool without taking a break for, like, three hours straight. Neither one of us would ever do that with someone else. It's like we're always trying to one-up each other, you know what I mean?"

Jason stood straight at that, disregarding the game completely as he replied, "Trini says that it's because we're both super-egotistical alpha males who are subconsciously afraid that the other one is somehow better."

"Trini said that?" questioned Tommy, Jason nodding. Tommy laughed and went on, "Do you think she's right?"

Instead of answering, Jason returned his focus to the table and proceeded to take another shot, missing badly as the cue ball went spiraling into the corner pocket. "Do you want a beer?" he said finally, leaning his stick against the table. Before Tommy could reply, however, Jason was walking off to the bar.

"Guess so," murmured Tommy, smiling faintly. Deep down, he had to admit that he agreed with Trini, mostly because he had been trying to figure it out for a decade and nothing that he had ever come up with made as much sense as Trini's explanation.

Jason returned shortly thereafter, but the topic of their competitiveness — as well as the game itself — was dropped at that. They were on their way out of the building, weaving their way in and out of the crowd while Jason pretended to be occupied with something on his cell phone, when Jason collided into something hard that left him stumbling backwards in surprise.

Tommy looked back to check on Jason, but was pushed out of the way as the large man that Jason had ran into started lumbering towards the first Red Ranger. Muscle-bound, blonde and easily six-foot-five, he was an imposing force that stood tall over Jason. Immediately the man started barking at Jason in German, causing everything in the bar to reach a halt as the crowd focused on the two men.

Jason tried his hardest to reason with the man, apologizing for running into him and offering to buy him a drink, but this man seemed only to want to yell at, and belittle, Jason to the point that Jason carefully eyed Tommy from around the man's shoulder, as though silently telling Tommy to prepare for the inevitable. Tommy was far from surprised when the man grabbed Jason by the shirt collar and lifted him off the ground, but as Tommy made his way to help, two equally large men stepped into his path.

"Why can't it ever just be one?" said Tommy, rolling his eyes exasperatedly.

Across the room, Jason had just been tossed like a rag doll against the wall and was now using said wall to stay on his feet. It was just moments later that his attacker came charging, looking very much like a bipedal rhinoceros while running with his head down and his arms pumping furiously. Eyes wide, Jason spun horizontally against the wall, getting out of the way just in time to see the man slam headfirst into the reinforced wooden barricade with a sickening thud.

At least, it would have been sickening had the result been what Jason was expecting. Instead, the man just bounced off of the wall, shook his head clear and, completely unfazed by the collision, started running at Jason again.

"Aw, fuck me," said Jason, barely ducking a thick arm outstretched in a clothesline fashion. On one knee, he slammed his fist as hard as he possibly could directly into the man's stomach as he stumbled by, but the damage seemed to be done more to Jason's hand than the man's abdomen.

Groaning in pain, Jason hopped back onto his feet and had just started shaking his hand wildly when the man seized him around the neck and lifted him off the ground once more. "Come on, man, this is a stupid fight," croaked a red-faced Jason, momentarily forgetting his ability to speak German as he struggled desperately for oxygen.

"_Du bist tot,_" growled the man, cocking his fist back violently with anger burning in his steel blue eyes.

Closing his eyes tightly, Jason silently prepared himself for what he knew was about to come, which was definitely not the death his attacker had just predicted. Having already seen Tommy sneaking up on them from behind, when the man's legs were suddenly yanked out from under him Jason was ready to be dropped and landed on his feet with no serious harm done. His attacker, however, was in for much more than he had bargained for at Tommy's hands.

As soon as the man landed face first on the floor, Tommy got a running start and slid around to his head, coming to a stop on one knee in perfect position. In a matter of seconds Tommy had locked in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu chokehold called the Gogoplata, wrapping his legs around the man's head while using his feet to apply an incredible amount of pressure to the trachea, thus cutting off the flow of oxygen to the brain entirely.

Standing just a few short feet away with a grin on his face and his arms folded across his chest, Jason stared right into the man's eyes as they rapidly began to grow groggy. After slowly closing what little distance remained between them, Jason lowered himself to one knee, got right into the man's face and muttered, "It's time to go to sleep now, _mein freund_."

"Let me know when his face turns purple, bro," grunted Tommy.

"Why purple?" said Jason, eyeing Tommy curiously.

"Because," answered Tommy, twisting his legs hard to apply more pressure, "Purple is the last step before blue. If he goes blue we're going to start killing brain cells. He'll recover from purple in a few hours, but its all down hill once he hits blue."

Jason sighed. "Dude, just let him go. If it hasn't happened already, someone's going to call the cops and I really don't want to be here when they show up."

Tommy immediately released his hold on the man, who had long since passed out and hit the floor with a thud. "Good point," he replied, quickly hopping back onto his feet, "Let's get out of here, man."

Jason just nodded his head and with that they made a beeline towards the nearest exit, stepping over the two other men that Tommy had taken care of earlier while the crowd watched on in a mixture of awe, fear and concern. The second they were outside they took off running as quickly as their legs would carry them, neither daring to speak even a single word until they had collapsed onto their beds back at the hostel.

"Please tell me you didn't pay for anything with a card," said Jason, breathing heavily.

Lying down, his chest rising and falling rapidly, Tommy strained to look at Jason and said, "You're kidding me, right? How am I the one with the bad memory when you can't even remember that I got drugged and robbed fucking _yesterday_?"

"Oh yeah," murmured Jason, "My bad, bro."

Tommy laughed heartily. "You owe me big time for saving your ass back there, man," he stated matter-of-factly.

"What? No way," replied Jason, shaking his head. "If anything, we're even for me saving _your_ ass back in Vienna."

Bolting into a seated position, Tommy stared incredulously at Jason and said, "_WHAT?_ No, no, no…not by a long shot, pal. All you did was read a map and force me into a fight that would have been easily avoidable with better directions. That guy back there would have fucking murdered you if I hadn't stopped him; sorry bro, but there's a big difference between the two."

Jason opened his mouth to argue further, but before he could say a word Tommy was already continuing, "And in case you've forgotten, _you're_ the one that set me up with the bitch that drugged and robbed me in the first place! You owe me big time, bro; like, enormously."

"Yeah, I guess you do have a point there," said Jason, chuckling. "Tell you what, next time I set you up with someone, I promise she won't drug and rob you."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "You can start paying me back by never setting me up with anyone again," he replied, laughing. "Seriously, I'd rather stick with my hand for the rest of my life than ever go on another date organized by Jason Scott."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said Jason, dismissively. Then, under his breath, he muttered, "You won't be saying that when you're naming your first-born child after me."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," answered Jason, quickly, "Just reminding myself of what an asshole you are."

Tommy laughed. "So, do we need to get ready to leave the country now or what? I'll be honest; I'm really not up for another cross-country train ride already."

"Nah, I don't think so," said Jason, shaking his head. "That's why I asked if you paid with any cards; if the people at the bar really wanted to, they could have called around to all the hostels and hotels in town to see where you were staying. But we both paid for everything with cash, so I think we're good. There were only, like, fifty or sixty people there anyways; I seriously doubt we're going to get recognized in a city of two million people."

"I sure hope not," said Tommy, falling back onto his bed. After nearly a minute of silence he added, "That Gogoplata was pretty sick, huh?"

"Hell yeah," laughed Jason. "Since when do you use submission holds, though? I've never seen you bust out something like that before."

Tommy grinned. "I found out last year that one of my co-workers is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He's taught me a few things, and I showed him some Toso Kune Do as well. I was thinking about using a triangle hold, but I haven't perfected that one yet and I didn't want to accidentally kill the guy or something, you know?"

"Yeah, I don't think killing him would have been a very good idea," said Jason. "I mean, it might just be me, but I'm pretty sure we'd have to go a whole hell of a lot farther than just one country over to get away from a murder."

"Agreed," said Tommy, yawning. "Shit, man, I'm tired. I think I'm going to hit the hay."

Jason checked his cell phone, saw that it was well past two o'clock in the morning, nodded his head and with a yawn of his own said, "Yeah, I'm with you on that one for sure, bro."

Ten minutes later, both were fast asleep.

--

Breakfast the next morning was typical for the region, served continental style in the hostel dining room. Jason had convinced Tommy to try something called _muesli_, a sort of dry cereal made with nuts and uncooked rolled oats, which had actually been far better than Tommy had expected. Granted, he had had to add three sliced bananas, a cup of milk and two spoonfuls of sugar to the bowl to get it down, but still…progress was being made.

After spending a few hours walking through downtown (_Innerstadt_), Jason and Tommy eventually found themselves shrouded in shadow at the hands of a massive Romanesque cathedral that had immediately drawn their full attention, both staring up in awe at the church's looming twin towers. They were easily thirty stories high, without a doubt the tallest structure in the entire city of Zurich.

"It's called the _Grossmünster _— great minister," explained Jason, softly.

"You want to go in?" muttered Tommy, still awestruck as he remained staring at the peak of the nearest tower.

"Sure," said Jason distantly, just as captivated as Tommy. "I've only seen them once…never really been inside before, though. Actually, I've never even been this close now that I think about it."

Tearing their eyes away from the pair of steeples, Jason and Tommy quietly made their way to the twin double doors made of glossy oak with shiny brass handles. The doors creaked upon being opened — a true sign of their age — as the two men slipped inside, standing in a foyer that was five times as long as it was deep. Near the entrance was a small dish of water, which Jason lightly dipped his fingers into before signing himself with the cross. Tommy, who was not very religious at all, shrugged and did the same in what was very much a "When in Rome…" gesture.

There was an unavoidable sense of reverence as they entered the church proper, its walls and arches painted white. Row after row of shiny pews separated by a narrow walkway led to a staircase up to a wide altar backed by a beautiful trio of stain glass windows.

"Dang," said Tommy, conscientiously reminding himself not to curse.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" said Jason. Tommy just nodded. "Come on," continued Jason. "I think we can walk to the top of the towers."

As they soon discovered, walking to the top of the towers was not as easy a task as they had thought it would be, even for two men in as close to perfect shape as was humanly possible. The stone staircase leading to the peak of the steeple was narrow and incredibly steep, with only a loose rope to hold onto all the way to the top.

To make matters more complicated, the staircase was only wide enough for one person and traffic was moving in both directions. Every few minutes they would encounter a group coming down, which ended up causing quite a few awkward attempts to maneuver past one another. It took nearly thirty minutes to make it to the top, but once there the view was such that both would have gladly walked for twice that long.

"This is nuts," breathed Jason, leaning over a marble banister as he stared down into the depths of Zurich in amazement.

"It's like being on top of the world," commented Tommy, whose attention had been grabbed by the gorgeous view of _Zürichsee_ (Lake Zurich), the afternoon sun causing the dark blue surface to sparkle majestically.

Both pulled compact digital cameras from their pockets and began snapping away, seemingly using every ounce of memory capacity that they had on the different views from atop the _Grossmünster_. This lasted nearly ten minutes; after taking what was to be the final photograph, Jason turned around and found Tommy on the other side of the platform, arms folded atop the banister as he gazed out on the lake once more.

Sighing, Jason approached from behind, took up a similar position alongside his friend and said, "Trini was right."

"Hmm?" replied Tommy, shifting his eyes to Jason.

"I said, Trini was right," repeated Jason. "About you and me," he added. "Well, I guess I can't speak for you, but she was right about me."

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying that you think I'm better than you are?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know, man," he answered, looking away. "I just…look at what you've done, Tommy. Five years…_five years_, bro; I bailed after one. You were a better leader than I ever could have been and Zordon knew that. Honestly, part of me is still upset that you got the team while I was still there. Not to mention Kim."

"Kim?" said Tommy, confused, Jason nodding. "What about Kim?"

"No, I guess you wouldn't know, would you?" said Jason, sighing and shaking his head. "Before you came along, I had been chasing after her since the sixth grade. At the time, I was just starting to feel like I was making progress, but then you showed up and all she could talk about was you. You'd barely been in town for a month when I just gave up on her completely. I mean, in retrospect I realize that it was just a regular teenaged crush but, at the same time, I spent three and a half years chasing her and within hours you had her in the palm of your hand."

Tommy chuckled awkwardly. "I don't know about all that, bro. It was really more the other way around. She could have told me to jump from the highest building in Angel Grove and I would have done it if I thought it would make her happy. Shit, man, I probably still —"

He stopped before he could incriminate himself any further, but it was already far too late for that.

"Alright, I was willing to let it go the first time, but that's twice now, man," said Jason, Tommy turning beet red. "First you said Kim's name instead of Katja's at the club, and now this…she's still got you, doesn't she?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Tommy, shaking his head furiously.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Come on, bro, I just told you how inferior I feel; the least you can do is give me an honest answer here."

It was clear that Tommy was trying desperately to fight being honest, but in the end it was simply too much. He and Jason had always been very up front with each other; in fact, he could not recall a single time where he had ever outright lied to Jason.

"Fine," sighed Tommy, finally. "She's still got me. She always has, really."

"And that night at the Halloween party?"

Tommy's eyes widened with surprise. "You knew about that?"

"I know everything that goes on in my house, bro," answered Jason, with a grin. "Did you two, you know…"

Tommy shook his head. "No," he answered, his voice a near whisper. "I wanted to so bad, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. She was going back to Florida in a few days and I cared about her— still care about her, I mean — way too much for a drunken one night stand. She flipped out at first…said that I thought she wasn't good enough for me."

"Obviously it was the alcohol talking," said Jason.

Tommy nodded. "Eventually we got around to that. In the end, we both agreed that it was probably best we didn't do anything. Still…when I saw her that night for the first time since right after Murianthis…I knew I'd never get over her; not properly, anyways."

"Damn," said Jason, simply. "I mean, I kind of always thought it was like that, but I was never really sure, you know?"

Again, Tommy nodded. "Everyone thinks my eyes give me away, but that's only when I'm not _really_ trying to hide something. Trust me, if I don't want people to know something, they flat out don't know. All the guys think I'm over her…the girls think I'm not, but that's only because they all have this jacked up fairytale image of me and Kimberly, like we're the perfect fucking couple or something. It's like they think we're some sitcom couple that broke up after three seasons, but is somehow destined to get back together."

Jason laughed. "I don't know, bro," he replied, shrugging. "I guess I'll just be deathly honest here; you guys were as close to perfect as anything I've ever seen, including Billy and Trini. You guys never fought, unless it was Rita and/or Zedd influenced, and it was blatantly obvious when you two were together how much you meant to each other."

"That was the one thing I could never hide," murmured Tommy, shaking his head slowly. "It didn't matter what was going on, or how fucked up my life was at the time, everything was always okay when she was around. Sometimes I miss that."

"I feel you, bro. Really, I do," said Jason, clasping Tommy's shoulder. "Come on, let's go grab some lunch."

Tommy sighed. "Yeah, alright," he replied, nodding. Jason turned to leave, but was stopped when Tommy stuck his arm out and said, "Wait."

"What's up?" said Jason, furrowing his brow.

It took Tommy a few silent moments, but after a deep breath and much inner-persuasion, he was finally able to say, "I…I'm not better than you, bro, and I really hope you don't think I feel like I am, because I don't."

Jason grinned and said, "Yeah, I know, bro."

"Good," said Tommy, with a nod.

With that they started back towards the narrow and winding staircase. They were about halfway down, with Tommy in the lead position, when Jason discreetly pulled out his cell phone and started typing away quietly, all the while maintaining the casual conversation he and Tommy were having. In a matter of seconds, and with a wry grin on his face, he had typed and sent a text message to Trini that read, very simply, "_It's on_."

--

When they had seen almost all that Zurich had to offer them, their next destination became Geneva, Switzerland's second-most populous city, located near the south-western border of France. To Tommy's great dismay, he had just started picking up on bits of the German language — enough so that he felt comfortable trying a few basic points of conversation — only to find that the language of choice in Geneva was Swiss-French. Of course, he was not surprised to discover that Jason was fluent in this, as well.

Unlike their previous destination, however, Geneva was nowhere near the Mecca that Zurich had been. In fact, by six o'clock on the evening of their arrival, both Tommy and Jason were more than ready to move on. After just a week in Europe they had been through Austria and Switzerland, and were now set to continue their trip into southern France.

Though they crossed through Italy on the train ride to Avignon, Tommy was quite disappointed that they did not spend any significant length of time in the one nation with food he would not have to ask Jason about before ordering. Spaghetti, pizza, ravioli, lasagna…yeah, he could have definitely handled that.

Still, when they stepped off the train in Avignon, all his disappointment disappeared upon setting his sights on what was undoubtedly the most beautiful city they had visited thus far. Immaculately preserved stone ramparts created a circular border around the city and, even from the farthest distance in the city proper, the mammoth medieval fortress on the other side was impossible to ignore. Perhaps even more beautiful than either of these, though, was the _Palais des Papes_ (the papal palace).

Home to the pope beginning in 1309, Clement V had moved there from Rome to escape the violent chaos surrounding his election in 1305. Seventy-two years later the papacy returned to Italy, but the 161,458 square-foot palace had been a prominent location in France, as well as Europe, ever since.

Jason had hoped to spend no more than a day in Avignon before continuing on to Lyon, but the palace had taken nearly a full day to see and both were itching to explore the medieval fortress, which ended up taking another day's time to see properly. Luckily, they did not run into anything in Lyon that kept them there for more than a day.

It was just after four o'clock that morning as their train shuttled along to Paris that Jason found himself lying on the bottom bunk with ear buds plugged in, watching _Fight Club_ on his iPod. Being that this was their first overnight trip since fleeing Austria, as soon as they had stepped onto the train Tommy had taken off on a dead sprint to their compartment and had set up shop on the top bunk before Jason could do anything to stop it.

He began drifting off as time went by, but just as he was about to fall asleep he felt his phone start to vibrate from where it lay atop his chest. Rolling his eyes, Jason grabbed his phone and flipped it open, reading a text message from Trini that said, "Are you guys in Paris yet? Only one more day…"

Quickly, Jason replied, "No we're not, and yes, I know. I'm taking care of it."

Knowing that this conversation was likely to go on for awhile—and that Trini would berate him for hours if he abandoned it before she—Jason returned to watching _Fight Club_ while waiting for Trini's response, which he would continue to do as their text message conversation continued. It came a few minutes later and it read, "Good…now, just don't screw it up or I'll have to kill you with my bare hands."

Jason chuckled softly at that as he typed his response. "Hardy-har-har, Trini, you are SO damn hilarious. You couldn't kill me if I was handcuffed to a pole and you had a fully-loaded assault rifle with a scope."

"If you don't want to test that theory of yours then I suggest you stay in Europe until I die," proclaimed Trini shortly thereafter.

"Ooh," Jason typed back. "I'm so scared I'm shaking in my red diamond boots."

"Ha-ha," replied Trini. "That was actually pretty funny, which is a huge surprise considering it came from you."

"Tommy almost killed some dude in a bar with a chokehold the other night," typed Jason, grinning broadly. "Keep it up and I'm going to have him show me it so I can use it on you when we get back."

It took all of thirty seconds after he had sent the message for his cell phone to start vibrating again, though not in the short burst that came when he received a text message; Trini was calling him. Groaning lowly, Jason rolled onto his feet — careful not to hit his head on the upper bunk — and quietly slipped into the hallway outside their compartment in nothing but a pair of red-and-white striped boxer shorts.

"What's up?" he said, his phone pressed to his ear.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, TOMMY ALMOST KILLED SOMEONE?" yelled Trini, so loudly that Jason had to hold the phone away from his ear or risk going deaf. "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU TWO DOING OVER THERE, JASON?"

"Trini, Trini, relax," said Jason, calmly. "It really wasn't that big of a deal."

"NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL? ALMOST KILLING SOMEONE IS A PRETTY BIG FUCKING DEAL, JASON!"

Jason winced. He could only recall a half-dozen or so occasions in his entire life where Trini had ever dropped the F-bomb, and none of them had ever been very pleasant instances.

"Trini, the guy honestly would have killed me if Tommy didn't do something," replied Jason, trying his hardest not to lose his patience. "I bumped into this massive beast of a guy by mistake in a bar in Zurich; I apologized three or four times and even offered to buy him a drink, but all he wanted to do was fight. He came after me and eventually Tommy had to intervene; he did some Pogoglata, or something like that."

"You mean a Gogoplata?" said Trini.

"Yeah, that's it," said Jason, with a snap of his fingers.

"Wow, I'm actually kind of impressed now," said Trini, laughing. "Apparently I'm not the only one in the group who knows Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Please just tell me that he stopped at purple."

Jason laughed as well. "Yeah, he did," he replied, shaking his head while remembering the eye-popping look on the muscle-bound man's face as he was literally having the life choked out of him. "Anyway," continued Jason, "Like I said before, it's really not that big of a deal. Everything's good, we're both safe and we're just a few hours outside of Paris now."

"Well, that's good at least," said Trini, with a sigh. "Does Tommy have any idea what's going on?"

"Does he ever?" questioned Jason, he and Trini sharing a knowing laugh. "He's as oblivious now as he always is. That's not going to last for very much longer, though. Also, it's going to be all of the kids, not just the first born; girls, too."

"I don't know about that," Trini chuckled, "He'll definitely love you forever, though."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see won't we?" said Jason, yawning.

"Yeah, I guess so," replied Trini. "Anyway, I'll let you go. You sound tired."

"Exhausted," corrected Jason, with another and more powerful yawn. "Night, Trini…or morning, evening, whatever it is over there; I'm too tired to care right now."

Trini laughed. "Goodnight, Jase, and say hi to Tommy for me."

"Will do, Captain Kirk," said Jason. "Red Ranger out."

Flipping his phone shut, Jason padded back into the compartment and was asleep within minutes. It was a little over two hours later when he was stirred from his dreamless sleep by Tommy, who was still giddy after laying claim to the top bunk before Jason had been able to.

"We're almost to Paris, bro," said Tommy, as Jason slowly came around.

"How far?" muttered Jason groggily into his pillow.

"About three minutes."

"Three minutes!" exclaimed Jason, flipping over and bolting upright. Next moment there was a thud, followed by Jason letting out a string of loud and violent curse words after slamming his head into the metal underside of the top bunk. "Fuck, man," he groaned, rubbing his forehead gingerly. "I gave you at least fifteen before we got to Zurich."

"Sorry, bro," said Tommy, shrugging. "I've only been awake for, like, ten minutes and I just now found out where we were."

"Alright," muttered Jason, through gritted teeth, carefully climbing to his feet. He rushed to get dressed and pack his belongings, but it was still not quick enough. They were halfway to the exit when the train slowly started lumbering forward.

"Fuck!" yelled Jason and Tommy, simultaneously.

They both took off sprinting at that point as the train gradually increased its speed, arriving at the nearest exit only to find that it was already shut.

"Come on, next exit!" said Jason, already turning to run.

"Fuck that, not enough time," replied Tommy, jamming his fingernails into the crook between the two doors. "Help me pry this thing open."

Jason hastily returned to Tommy's side and a few seconds later they had opened the doors just enough to tightly accommodate one person at a time. "Go," continued Tommy, jerking his head.

Jason seemed poised to argue, but Tommy leaned back while holding the door open and literally kicked Jason off of the train before he could say anything, diving after him as the doors snapped shut behind them. The concrete platform was not a forgiving landing point, however, and as Tommy rolled and finally came to a stop he groaned in pain from his laid-out position and looked down to discover that one of his shoes had suddenly gone missing. Then his eyes went to the rapidly disappearing train where he immediately recognized the left-side counterpart to the brown leather flip-flop on his right foot stuck between the two doors.

"Damn, that fucking hurts like a son of a bitch," said Jason, standing over him while rubbing his elbow. He then extended his hand to Tommy and hoisted him back onto his feet. "Looks like you lost a shoe there, bro," added Jason, with a laugh.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks for the exclusive newsbreak, Captain Obvious," he replied, shaking his head. Slinging his backpack to the ground, he quickly rifled through it until he found some socks and a pair of tennis shoes. "You think they sell flip-flops in Paris, man?" he asked, once he had pulled on his shoes a few moments later.

"I don't know, bro, but I'm sure we'll be able to find someone who does," answered Jason, with a half-grin and a twinkle in his eye that would have been unmistakable had Tommy actually been looking at him.

"I sure hope so," said Tommy firmly, depositing his other sandal in a nearby trash bin as they started towards a staircase on the other side of the station that lead up to the surface. After checking the time on his cell phone he added, "So, uh, what exactly is there to do in Paris at seven in the morning?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know about you, man, but I haven't eaten since dinner last night. I'm hungry," he laughed. "The first thing I'm doing is finding somewhere to get some breakfast."

"Yeah, that sounds good," said Tommy, ascending the stone steps. "You know, I've always wondered, do they actually eat French toast in France?"

Again, Jason laughed. "Yeah, they do," he replied. "It's called _pain perdu_. I love the good old USA and all that, but you'll never want to eat American French toast again once you've had this stuff. It's _soooo_ good, bro."

"Finally," exclaimed Tommy, "a breakfast that isn't coffee, cold bread and cheese. Who the hell eats cheese for breakfast, anyway?"

"Most of western continental Europe, actually," answered Jason, deadpan.

As they stepped into the morning air, Tommy paused long enough to look at Jason and shake his head. "Thank you for the serious answer to the rhetorical question, buddy. What would I do without you?"

"Well, all things presently considered," said Jason, grinning, "Without me, you'd probably still be stuck in Vienna trying to figure out which way's left and which way's right."

Tommy just laughed at that, mostly because he knew how true it really was.

The first thing that he noticed upon surfacing was that, architecturally speaking, Paris was nowhere near the shock that Avignon and Vienna had been. From what little he had actually seen, it reminded him of certain parts of San Francisco.

"Know of anywhere good to eat?" asked Tommy, as they started walking once more.

"Yeah, there's a café a few blocks from here that has the best French toast I've ever tasted," said Jason, who was smiling just thinking about his inevitable breakfast.

"We should probably find a hostel after that, yeah?"

Jason shrugged. "Eh, let's just walk around for awhile and see what we find. Trust me, there's not going to be any shortage of places to stay in this city."

"Alright then," said Tommy, nodding. Though he certainly would have loved to relieve himself of his burden first, Paris was one of the cities that he had been most looking forward to visiting and the prospect of exploring it was enough to make him not care if he had to lug around his backpack for a little while longer.

It was maybe ten minutes later that they reached the café, where they were promptly led to a table in the furthest corner of the room. As they took their seats, Jason looked across the table at Tommy and said, "We probably won't get the same love here from the locals that we got in Austria and Switzerland."

"Good," said Tommy. "That means no more life-threatening escapades to worry about."

Jason laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's true, but it goes both ways. Most people in Europe at least appreciate it when you try to speak the native language, and they're usually more inclined to speak English if they see you make an effort. France is mostly like that too, but the Parisians have never given me that impression before. Getting someone to speak English is like pulling teeth, bro. Not to mention the fact that France and America aren't really on the best of terms right now…"

"Good thing you're here then, right?" said Tommy, Jason nodding just as a disgruntled looking waitress approached their table.

Immediately, she began a rapid and long-winded diatribe in French that was clearly intended to confuse the holy hell out of them. It certainly worked on Tommy, who looked absolutely bewildered, but Jason simply smiled at her as he listened to her speak. When she finally stopped, Jason left her staring blankly at him when he promptly ordered two lattes, two plates of French toast and two glasses of orange juice in perfectly accented French, and then asked her how her day was going.

"_Oui_," said the waitress bitterly, as she turned on her heels and headed back to the kitchen without answering Jason's question.

"She looked pissed, bro," muttered Tommy.

"Of course she did," said Jason, chuckling. "She assumed we were ignorant just because we're from America. How would you feel if you walked up to someone with the impression that they were a total idiot only to have them launch into a detailed explanation of quantum mechanics?"

"Pretty stupid," answered Tommy, with a laugh. "I just hope she doesn't tell the cooks to spit in the food."

"She won't," said Jason confidently. "By the time she's done dropping off our drinks, she's going to love me."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Great," he replied. "It'll be a nuclear explosion that doesn't actually kill people; this should be a fun one to watch."

Still, when the waitress returned a short while later it was with the same angered expression, but like Jason had said, by the time she went back to the kitchen she was all giggles and smiles. It was then that Tommy threw up his arms in disgust and said, "I don't get it. How come you get the sexy French waitress and I get stuck with the psycho Austrian? What the hell did you say to her, anyway?"

"I told her that we were from America and that you were the stereotypical uncultured idiot, but that I certainly hoped she didn't hold that against me," said Jason, with an expression that conveyed the utmost seriousness. "The rest kind of gets lost in translation."

At that point Tommy could do little more than stare back at him in disbelief. Eventually, though, he sighed and said, "Good move; I probably would have done the same thing if I was trying to hook up with a Frenchie. You know, I hear they don't shave their pits _or_ their legs."

Jason, in the midst of taking a sip from his steaming coffee mug, laughed into the cup and ended up sputtering a burst of hot liquid all over himself as a result. "You're such an ass," he muttered, dabbing all over his body with a cloth napkin.

"Turnabout is always fair play, bro. You know that," said Tommy, grinning victoriously.

Under any other circumstances Jason would have simply taken it in stride while waiting for the perfect opportunity to enact payback on his best friend. Here and now, though…he knew that it was neither the time nor the place for their usual antics, especially not when he had such pressing business to attend to at the moment.

"I'll be right back," said Jason, rising to his feet. "Gonna go hit the head."

Tommy just nodded and pulled out his cell phone to check the latest Dodger's scores as Jason turned and headed for the sign marked _Toilettes_. As he walked to the restroom, Jason retrieved his own phone and quickly typed out a message that read, "Hey, where are you?"

The reply came right as he was finishing up using the facilities. After he had washed his hands he flipped open his cell phone once more to read the reply: "The same place that I've been for the last three weeks. You?"

Jason, however, did not text back. Instead, he returned to the table and made sure that breakfast was as quick of a proceeding as it could possibly be. So desperate was he to get out of the restaurant that he simply handed his debit card to the waitress when she appeared with the check, not even bothering to ask Tommy to cover his half of the bill.

While he was self-admittedly forgetful, Tommy was by no means a dumb man. When presented with a free meal common sense usually dictated that one take said meal and not ask any questions, so that was exactly what he did.

A few minutes later they were back outside with their backpacks on; Tommy was ready to start walking, but Jason just stood at the curb and waited until a silver Mercedes-Benz turned the corner and began approaching.

Jason then began waving to the driver, causing Tommy to furrow his brown in confusion; as the car grew closer though, Tommy noticed a white sign on top of the vehicle that read "_**TAXI **__— Parisien._"

"What do we need a taxi for?" asked Tommy, the car pulling to a stop at the curb.

"You'll see," said Jason, tapping the trunk of the car, which the driver then opened from inside the car. "There's something I want to show you," he added, as they deposited their backpacks into the trunk.

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Good something or bad something?" he questioned.

Jason laughed as he opened the back door and motioned for Tommy to get in. "I can't say for sure, but I think it'll end up being a good something."

Tommy shook his head and said, "Why don't I like the sound of this?" but climbed into the backseat of the taxi nonetheless.

They were off a moment later on what seemed to become a driven tour of Paris that lasted far longer than Tommy was expecting. While he would have much preferred to walk the streets, Tommy could not help but to stare out the window in awe as Paris unveiled itself to them one kilometer at a time.

It was after forty-five minutes of driving and casually chatting that Jason finally said, "We're almost there, bro."

"Thank God," said Tommy, staring out his window. "I'm done with driving."

Fortunately for Tommy, it turned out that "almost there" actually meant "less than a minute away." Even still, his eyes displayed only confusion when the car turned a corner and came to a stop in front of a large wrought iron gate. There was a small call-box at the driver's side front window; beyond the gate, Tommy could make out what was certainly the biggest house that he had ever before seen.

"_Un_, _neuf, neuf, trois,_" said Jason, to the driver.

"_Compris,_" replied the driver, nodding and punching in the numerical code.

Slowly the gate began to open inwardly and the car drove through, onto a narrow cement path just wide enough for one car. As Tommy soon noticed, the path was actually a series of paths that formed nine spacious rectangles in a three-by-three formation leading up to the house. Within those different rectangles was perfectly trimmed grass that was a deep and luscious shade of green; the six outer rectangles also contained a variety of gorgeous shrubbery that was obviously just as meticulously maintained.

Most impressive of all, though, was the house itself. It was only two stories tall, but the sheer size of the house both wide and deep was almost unfathomable for Tommy even as he stared right at it. He quickly counted eighteen large windows — nine on each level — on the front side of the white mansion that had been built in the French Baroque style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From his awkward vantage point, he could also make out what appeared to be another smaller house connected on the back-left side of the mansion.

"Dude, this place is huge," murmured Tommy. "What is it?"

"You'll see," said Jason, grinning as Tommy rolled his eyes at him.

The taxi eventually reached the end of the long path and the driver maneuvered the car to a stop in front of a short set of steps leading to a comfortably-sized front porch. After exiting the vehicle and retrieving their belongings, Jason paid the driver and then directed Tommy towards the double oak doors that were each at least six feet wide and ten feet tall.

Tommy, however, stood firmly and shook his head. "Bro, I'm not just walking into some random person's house that I've never met before when you won't even tell me what we're doing here in the first place."

Jason sighed. "Fine, suit yourself," he replied, shrugging.

Spinning on his heels, Jason then jogged up the steps and rapped the heavy brass knocker against the door. When the door opened a minute or so later, Tommy could see an older man in a black suit, white dress shirt and black bowtie standing in the entranceway.

Jason looked back. "You sure you're not coming, bro?"

Arms folded across his chest defiantly, Tommy locked eyes with Jason and glared intently at him until he was forced to blink. Then, rolling his eyes, he shook his head once more and started towards the stairs, Jason grinning the whole time.

"The battle, but not the war," muttered Tommy, as he strode past Jason and the other man, right into the foyer of the house. The walls were painted gold and deep maroon; to the left and right were separate sitting rooms, each with magnificent paintings hung in gilded frames and furniture that appeared to be as old as it was. Eventually, he turned back around to Jason and said, "So, where the hell are we, anyway."

Jason grinned and said something in quiet French to the older man, who Tommy deemed was likely a butler of some sort; his assumption was correct. With a polite nod to Jason, the butler walked past Tommy to an intercom box at the end of the foyer where he pressed a button and said, "_Pardonnez-moi, Mlle, mais vous avez des visiteurs__._"

Tommy, who had learned a very small amount of French from Kimberly several years back, was well within earshot of the man and he listened carefully in the hopes of catching something familiar, but the butler was speaking far too quickly for Tommy to catch anything. Instead, he returned his attention to Jason and said, "Am I not getting an answer or what?"

"Oh, you're getting an answer," said Jason. Walking over to Tommy, he clasped his friend on the shoulder and led him down the hallway, to an entrance room where two curved staircases stood with marble steps and golden railings. "In fact," he continued, "It should actually be coming right…about…_now_."

Jason then pointed over Tommy's shoulder, to the top of the staircase. Tommy turned around and instantly lost all sense of reality.

How? Why?

Question after question raced through his mind as he stared up in disbelief at the equally surprised yet unmistakably beautiful face of one Kimberly Ann Hart.


	4. French Connection

_**Title: Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter Four – French Connection**_

_**Original Posting Date: July 28, 2009**_

--

"Tommy? Jason?" said Kimberly with narrowed eyes, as a smile slowly crept across her face. "What are you guys doing here?" she continued, hesitantly making her way down the staircase.

Jason gave Tommy the opportunity to answer, but it was clear that the longest tenured leader of the Power Rangers was lost in a state of absolute shock. Laughing and shaking his head, Jason looked to Kimberly and said, "We were in the neighborhood so I thought we'd stop by and pay you a little visit."

"That worked when we lived a few blocks away from each other, but not when it's an ocean and a few thousand miles," said Kimberly, smirking as she and Jason embraced warmly. "Is that why you text messaged me and asked where I was earlier today?"

"Yeah," answered Jason, nodding.

Furrowing her brow, Kimberly looked over and said, "Hey, Tommy."

Tommy blinked rapidly. "H-hey," he stammered, awkwardly accepting her attempt at hugging at him.

"So, uh, what brings you guys to Paris?" asked Kimberly, unable to hide her confusion.

"Remember that backpacking trip we were always talking about?" said Tommy, who had apparently found his voice, indicating himself and Jason as Kimberly nodded. "Well, this is it."

Kimberly laughed. "Sorry, I'm just super surprised to see you guys, that's all," she replied. "Hold on," she added, jogging over to an open door on the other side of the room. She then stuck her head through the entrance and yelled, "Mom! Pierre! Come out here, quick!"

Looking over her shoulder as she waited for her mother and step-father, Kimberly caught Tommy's eye and smiled warmly. It took a moment, but Tommy was eventually able to flash a brief smile her way as well. As soon as her eyes were off of him, however, he drove his elbow directly into Jason's stomach, ignoring Jason's grunt as he hissed, "That's for being a total fucking dickhead idiot."

"Ah, what the hell was that for?" muttered Jason, holding his stomach gingerly.

"I just told you," said Tommy. "What were you thinking bringing me here? You, of all people…you know our history. I can't believe you would do something this asinine."

Jason rolled his eyes, but chose not to say anything; he had expected a reaction like this, but was almost certain that Tommy would be singing a different tune once he and Kimberly had had some time to catch up. Right now, however, was not that time, for Kimberly was now leading a very surprised Pierre and Caroline Dumas towards them, which caused both Tommy and Jason to put aside their differences for the time being.

Caroline looked very much like Tommy remembered, still a beautiful woman in her own right even on the other side of fifty. She wore a soft yellow sundress that matched her husband's crisp polo shirt, which he wore tucked into an even crisper pair of khaki slacks. Tommy could only vaguely recall meeting Pierre in Angel Grove, but figured he looked about the same as well, slightly-graying hair aside.

"Mom, Pierre," said Kimberly. "You remember Tommy and Jason."

"_Oui!_" exclaimed Pierre, in a thick French accent, as he shook hands with the two younger men. "Tummy," he continued, Jason letting out a snort that he quickly turned into a fake cough, "_et_ Jhaysin, ze boys from your school!"

"Oh, what a surprise!" said Caroline, planting kisses to each of their cheeks. "I haven't seen you boys since the move!"

"It's good to see you too, Mrs….Err—" Tommy drifted off, not sure as to what Caroline's surname was these days.

"It's Dumas now," she answered, "But please, we're all adults now…call me Caroline."

Tommy nodded politely.

"So what brings you boys to ziss wonderful country?" asked Pierre.

Jason and Tommy shared a quick look to decide who would start first. It was Jason, and for the next ten minutes he and Tommy took turns explaining themselves to Caroline and Pierre, both of whom wanted extensive details on where they had already been and where they were planning on visiting after Paris.

"Well, we'll just leave you three to catch up then," said Caroline, smiling. "If you don't have any plans for the evening, you're both more than welcome to join us for supper. Our chef Jean-Luc is making his specialty, Chicken Cordon Bleu."

Again, Jason and Tommy shared a look. This time, though, both quickly burst out laughing.

"We'll be there," said Jason.

"Yeah, definitely," said Tommy, nodding. "Thank you," he added, as Caroline and Pierre departed.

"Okay, so you guys have _got_ to let me show you around Paris," said Kimberly excitedly. "Ah, I can't believe you two are actually here!" she continued, hugging them both again. "It's going to be just like old times!"

"I certainly hope so," muttered Jason, under his breath.

"Hmm?" said Kimberly.

"Nothing," said Jason, shaking his head. "I was just agreeing with you."

Kimberly eyed him in a way that said she did not believe him for a second, but she did not argue any further. "So did you guys just get to the city or what?" she questioned instead.

"Yeah, about an hour ago actually," said Tommy.

"How long are you planning on staying?"

"A couple of days, why?" said Jason, though his subconscious actually wanted to say, "We're going to be here for as long as it takes for you and Tommy to get your shit together."

"Well, I know you guys have been bouncing around from hostel to hostel and stuff," replied Kimberly. "If you want, you can stay here. As I'm sure you can imagine, there are plenty of guest rooms in the house."

"What do you think bro?" said Jason to Tommy.

Tommy shrugged. "Yeah, that's cool," he answered, not wanting to seem rude despite the fact that he would have much preferred a sixteen-person hostel bedroom to sharing a spacious mansion with Kimberly.

"Awesome," said Kimberly, beaming. "Come on, I'll show you where you can stay, and then we'll go hit the city."

"I'm not going anywhere until I take a shower," said Jason, as he and Tommy followed Kimberly up the staircase. "It's been at least a day and a half."

"Eww, that is _so_ gross," giggled Kimberly, unknowingly causing Tommy to smile.

"He is, isn't he?" said Tommy, laughing as he pushed Jason teasingly.

Kimberly looked back and grinned. "Some things never change," she replied.

"Other things do," muttered Tommy, instantly regretting what he had said as Kimberly quickly looked away and Jason threw a glare at him that declared Tommy Oliver to be the absolute biggest idiot from Earth to Aquitar.

"Well," said Kimberly, pointing to a row of doors down a long hallway shortly thereafter, "Those are all guest rooms. I'll see you guys in a bit."

Jason quickly disappeared through the nearest door, but as Kimberly turned to leave, Tommy reached out and seized her wrist. Slowly, she turned around and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's fine," said Kimberly dismissively, ignoring what her heart said. "Sometimes the truth just hurts, I guess."

Tommy sighed. "I'm not the only one whose eyes tell the whole story, you know."

"There's no story to tell, Tommy," replied Kimberly, not missing a beat. "Like I said, sometimes the truth hurts, that's all. Let's face the facts…it's never going to be like it used to be."

"Yeah, you're right," said Tommy, nodding. "Sometimes the truth does hurt."

"Let me ask you something," said Kimberly, her voice a near whisper. "Do you ever, you know…do you ever regret what happened that night at Jason's Halloween party?"

Again, Tommy could not help the sigh that escaped his lips as he ran his hand through his hair. "Not a day goes by that I don't wonder what it would have been like," he answered, shaking his head. "But no, I don't regret my decision at all and, honestly, I never have. You don't have to care about someone to just have sex with them, but sometimes you can care _so_ _much_ about someone that you _can't_ just have sex with them. As great as I know it would have been, I still don't think it would have been worth it for a one night stand."

"It's good to see you're still the same gentleman you always were," murmured Kimberly, smiling as she touched the side of his face gently.

"Like you said a few minutes ago, some things never change," he replied, grinning down at her. He had always loved that about Kimberly, the way her small stature contrasted with his much taller and broader build. "So what are you doing in France, anyway? When I called on your birthday you were still in Miami."

"I'm on vacation just like you guys," answered Kimberly. "I hadn't seen my mom and Pierre in almost three years, so I decided to spend a few weeks visiting them this year."

"How long are you here for?" asked Tommy.

"Only two more days," said Kimberly regretfully.

"Guess there won't be much time for catching up then, huh?" said Tommy.

Kimberly smiled and shrugged. "I've told you this before, Tommy: I'm never predictable."

"Are you saying you could stay longer if you wanted to?" questioned Tommy.

"Maybe…maybe not," said Kimberly, smirking. "All it would take is a reason to stay."

"You know, if I'd given you one of those eight years ago I seriously doubt we'd be having this conversation," said Tommy.

Kimberly furrowed her brow. "What are you saying?"

Tommy sighed. "I'm saying that I realize where I went wrong. I should have fought for you back then and I didn't. I just…all I ever wanted was for you to be happy, even if it meant that it was at my expense, so instead of fighting for you I rolled over and let you be happy while I was absolutely miserable."

"I don't get it," said Kimberly, shaking her head. "What exactly is your point?"

"My point is that I'm done being miserable for other people," said Tommy as he walked past her, to the next door beyond the one Jason had gone through. Only when he had reached the door did he look back and add, "I hope you're prepared to spend some more time overseas, Kim."

That having been said, he slipped into the guest bedroom before she could reply, but he was able to catch a quick glimpse of the dumbfounded expression on her face, which left him grinning from ear to ear as he set his bag down on the floor and looked around.

"Guest bedroom, huh?" scoffed Tommy, rolling his eyes. "The master must be bigger than my entire house then."

It nearly was, though, of course, Tommy did not yet know that. The guest bedroom was easily as big as his bedroom back home in Reefside, if not bigger. The bed was a four-poster with a king-sized mattress and emerald green bedding with bits of gold and silver trim. In fact, most everything in the room was decorated similarly. The television mounted on the wall (black) and the bedroom door (brown) were the only two things that did not fit into this color scheme.

"Where's Dragon Zord when you need it?" he laughed, silently wondering whether or not Kimberly's artistic influence had touched this room.

After a quick shower Tommy pulled on a pair of denim shorts, a tight black tank top, and his tennis shoes. He then retrieved a black Dodger's cap from his backpack, jammed it on backwards and, after gathering a few more personal belongings, exited the room with his black Oakley sunglasses wrapped behind his head.

Jason was standing in the hallway when Tommy came out. "Oh, look at you, showing off the muscles," said Jason, chuckling.

"Yeah, 'cause an Under Armour tee shirt is _so_ conservative, right?" replied Tommy.

"Has Kim seen your tattoo?" asked Jason, pointing to Tommy's right arm. From his elbow to his shoulder was a white falcon; its wings were folded in, making it look as though the bird were trying to fly right off of Tommy's arm.

"Nope," said Tommy, shaking his head. "You think she'll like it?"

Jason shrugged. "Only one way to find out," he replied, grinning.

Tommy nodded. "Let's do it."

As they descended the stairs, both looked around for a sign of Kimberly but she was nowhere to be found.

"You go left, I go right?" said Tommy.

"For sure," replied Jason, nodding.

They split up at that point, Jason turning down the hallway to the left while Tommy went to the door that Kimberly had summoned Caroline and Pierre from earlier. In the hallway Jason passed by a few closed doors, but stopped and backpedaled slowly when he realized that one was cracked open and that he could faintly hear someone speaking from inside the room. On tiptoes he approached the door, getting as close as he possibly could without giving himself away.

"I — I honestly don't have a clue what to do here, 'Sha," said Kimberly. Through the crack in the door, Jason could see her pacing around as she talked on a cell phone. "He just showed up and it didn't feel like it had been as long as it really was. God, Aisha, you have no idea…he is easily the most gorgeous man I have ever seen in my entire life, not to mention the fact that he's still the same sweet gentleman he always was. He's been here all of thirty minutes and I've been fighting myself not to jump his bones the entire time."

Jason smirked. That was all he needed to hear. Creeping back down the hallway, he cupped his mouth with his hands and yelled, "Hey, Kim, you down here? We're waiting for you!"

"Be right out!" replied Kimberly.

"We'll be by the stairs!" said Jason, walking away.

A couple of minutes later she emerged from her bedroom; it took every ounce of strength Tommy had not to drool as she approached in a pair of denim short-shorts and a white v-neck blouse that was sleeveless and exposed her perfectly toned stomach.

"Belly button ring, huh? That's new," said Tommy, noting the dangly piece of silver jewelry and the small purple gem he knew to be her birth stone, an Amethyst.

"Tattoo, huh? That's new," said Kimberly, she and Tommy sharing a laugh.

"I like it," said Tommy, smiling.

"Yeah, I had a feeling you would," replied Kimberly, with a wink.

"Alright, alright, enough of that," said Jason, intervening. "Let's not forget what we came here for," he added to Tommy, "Flip-flops."

Tommy laughed. "Yeah, for sure," he said, looking to Kimberly as he continued, "They sell flip-flops in Paris, right? I lost one of mine diving off the train."

"Diving off the train?" repeated Kimberly, who started laughing hysterically when Tommy nodded. "Oh boy, now that's a story I _definitely _have to hear. You guys can tell me all about it on the way to the shoe store."

--

For three people who had all been so very close at one time, it was no surprise to any of them how easily they found themselves falling back into their old routines. Kim walked in the middle, arm-in-arm with both Tommy and Jason as they made their way through Paris, laughing and joking like it had not been three-plus years since the last time that they had all been together at the same time.

They explored the city for hours, going in and out of shops that inevitably left them with far more souvenirs than either Tommy or Jason wanted to carry around for the next three weeks. In fact, in the coming weeks Caroline and Pierre would end up finding quite a few trinkets sprinkled randomly throughout their spacious home that the two former leaders had left as parting gifts of sorts; a thank-you for the hospitality, if you will.

Really, how in the world was Jason supposed to carry around the four-foot tall replica of the Eifel Tower for the next almost-month? Perhaps an even more serious question, though, was why Jason had ever let Tommy talk him into buying the stupid thing in the first place, or why Tommy had spent nearly one-hundred euro on a pair of leather flip-flops, or why the trio had shared a three-hundred euro bottle of wine during their picnic lunch in a park that gave a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower.

The simple answer was because they were in Paris and, well, if there was ever a city designed for frivolous spending Paris would certainly be in the blueprints. Next to Las Vegas, where he had gone to celebrate his twenty-first birthday, Tommy had never been anywhere that made him want to spend money as much as Paris.

"So what do you guys want to do next?" said Kimberly. She, Tommy and Jason were spread out on a blanket in the park, playing catch-up in the late afternoon sun as they allowed their lunches to digest. "Mom said dinner's at six-thirty, so we've still got a few more hours."

Jason shrugged. "You're the tour guide. What else is there to see?"

"All kinds of stuff," said Kimberly enthusiastically. "We could go to the Louvre, or the Eiffel Tower, or the Arc de Triomphe…there's no shortage of things to do in Paris. Speaking of which, I got us tickets to Moulin Rouge tomorrow night when you guys were showering."

Tommy furrowed his brow. "That's a real place? I thought it was just a movie.…" Kimberly and Jason shared a brief look with each other and then started laughing hysterically, in turn causing Tommy's cheeks to turn beet red. "Yeah, that's really cool guys," he muttered. "Really…you're both awesome friends."

"Oh, come on Tommy, have a sense of humor," said Kimberly, grinning.

"I've been dealing with this for a week, Kim, and it's not funny anymore," replied Tommy, standing up. "No, I don't speak three different languages…and no, I might not be the most knowledgeable person when it comes to European history, but neither one of you could tell the difference between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Tarbosaurus and you don't see me laughing at you guys about it. Who's the one with the doctorate, huh? Oh yeah, that's right…it's me."

"A fact he'll never let anyone forget," murmured Jason, beneath his breath, so that only Kimberly could hear him. "Odd, too, considering a paleontology doctorate makes him quite possibly the most useless doctor on the planet."

Kimberly stifled the urge to laugh as she looked up at Tommy and shook her head. "Do you honestly not see how hilarious that is?"

With narrowed eyes, Tommy folded his arms across his chest and said, "No, I don't."

"Think about it, Tommy," replied Kimberly. "You were one of the least likely people to do so, but you've gone farther with your education than any of the people in our circle who aren't named Billy. You've got a bachelor's degree and a doctorate, yet you don't know that Moulin Rouge is a real place…that's pretty funny, Tommy."

Tommy shook his head. "I still don't think it's that funny, but whatever…it's not worth arguing about," he said dismissively. "Let's just get this stuff cleaned up and get moving, alright?"

As Tommy went to work throwing away their trash, Jason and Kimberly shared another silent look behind his back, flashing each other knowing smiles before hopping up to help him. They planned while they cleaned their little area, deciding where they were going to go next; Tommy did not say much though, speaking only when addressed directly, and even then his answers were incredibly short.

It took awhile, but about halfway into the two-and-a-half mile walk to the Eiffel Tower, Tommy's mood began a slow shift back to normalcy. Though he was still a bit irritated at being laughed at, he also understood that continuing to be mad about it would not make the trip any better; plus revenge was always a dish best served cold…

With each passing minute the looming tower in the distance became even larger as they grew closer. They could not have been more than three hundred feet away when they reached a stretch of lawn that led to the massive tower. All three immediately stopped, craning their necks to see the tower's peak.

"Ho-lee shit," said Tommy.

"Pictures and videos just don't do it justice, huh?" said Kimberly.

Tommy looked at her and shook his head. "Not even a little bit," he replied.

"You guys want to go up?" asked Jason, pointing towards the tower with his head.

"Yeah, for sure," answered Tommy, nodding.

"Definitely," said Kimberly with a smile. Then she looked to her right and quickly added, "Wait! I want to get some ice cream before we go up. Anyone want to come with?"

Jason shrugged. "Yeah, I'll go. It's been awhile since I've had ice cream."

"Tommy?" said Kimberly.

"Err…no, that's okay," he replied. "Mom sent me a text while we were walking; she wants me to call her. You guys go and then we'll go up when you get back."

"You sure?" asked Kimberly, eyeing Tommy carefully as he nodded his confirmation.

Standing a few feet behind Kimberly, Jason just crossed his arms and shook his head at Tommy. The former White Ranger ignored the gesture in Jason's presence, but once Jason and Kimberly had departed Tommy let out a deep sigh as he ran his hand through his hair.

"He's so confusing sometimes," murmured Kimberly, sparing a glance at Tommy over her shoulder as she and Jason walked towards a row of shops a kilometer or so away.

"Does that surprise you?" said Jason, chuckling. "He's always been like that. One minute everything's good…the next it's like his puppy just got ran over or something. Oh well, though," he added, shrugging helplessly. "It's Tommy…what are you going to do?"

"True," said Kimberly, laughing, "Very true. Still —" she drifted off, sparing another fleeting glance to Tommy, who stood with his back to them and his phone pressed to his ear. "I miss the days when he'd just immediately light up the second I walked into a room. Now he's just kind of like…_whatever_."

"And why do you think that is, Kim?" asked Jason, staring at her intently.

"I —" started Kimberly, but again she drifted. Then she sighed and shook her head. "It's my fault, isn't it?"

They stopped upon reaching the crosswalk at a crowded intersection. Jason pressed the single button on a nearby traffic-light pole and then said, "Not entirely, but on some level, yeah, it is. Tommy cares about you more than he's willing to admit, but we both know how hard it is for him to trust people. Nine times out of ten, when someone breaks his trust its over right then and there. I mean, I've seen the guy permanently end friendships without even blinking over less than what you did to him back then.

"The fact that you guys managed to come out of it with your friendship still intact proves just how much you really mean to him," continued Jason as they started into the crosswalk. "That having been said, he's not just going to roll over and pretend like everything's the way it used to be, no matter how much you want it to be."

"I don't _want_ things to be like they used to be, Jase," replied Kimberly. "I just…I miss certain things, that's all."

"_Bullshit!_" coughed Jason sarcastically, earning an eye roll from Kimberly. "Seriously, Kim," he added, "We both know that's not true. I've heard enough from both of you over the years to know that neither one of you is really over the other. The second you're both willing to admit that is when things will start to change."

"I got over Tommy a long time ago, Jason," said Kimberly firmly.

Jason laughed. "Yeah, and I'm the Yellow Ranger." As they approached the glass door to the ice cream shop, Kimberly again rolled her eyes at him. Jason, however, merely opened the door for her and said in a low voice, "One day you'll both realize the obvious, Kim. I just hope it happens before it's too late."

Kimberly said nothing as she entered the shop, but once she was out of earshot from Jason she could not help but to murmur, "Yeah, me too." They stepped to the back of a six person line. "Should we get Tommy something?" she questioned, looking back at Jason.

Jason shook his head. "If he wanted something he would have told us before we left."

Kimberly just nodded as they waited their turn in line. When it came time to order both did so in perfect French, though as Jason soon discovered, the flavor options were certainly not of the thirty-one variety he was used to back in the States. Sure there were the standard chocolate and vanilla, but instead of things like Rocky Road and cookie dough there was _Plombières _(vanilla with pistachios and dried fruit marinated in brandy) and _Grand_-_Marnier_ (an ice cream infused with orange-flavored triple sec).

In the end, Kimberly decided on a cup of _Chocolat Noir_ (dark chocolate) while Jason went with the _Grand-Marnier _in a waffle cone. Nothing else was said about Tommy as they walked back to where they had left him. Still, when Kimberly set her eyes on his chiseled back she was left smiling as she bit down on her lip ever so slightly.

"He is too sexy for his own good," she murmured to herself. "Look at how tight that ass is. Even from here…"

"Hey, I heard that," said Jason.

"What can I say?" replied Kimberly, shrugging noncommittally, as she took a bite of ice cream. "I only speak the truth."

Jason laughed. "Yeah, well, tell it to him, not me."

Kimberly smirked thoughtfully, as though debating whether or not to do that very thing. Then, without warning, she took off running towards Tommy. When there was only ten or so feet left between them she called out his name, causing Tommy to whirl around in surprise and drop his phone to the grass just in time to catch a leaping Kimberly in his arms basket-style.

"Hey sexy," she said with a smile, holding on around his neck.

Tommy furrowed his brow in confusion. "Did Jason put you up to this? Because I'm going to have to murder him if he did, you know."

"No, he didn't," said Kimberly, laughing as she smacked his shoulder playfully.

"Then why did you just jump into my arms?"

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Fine, forget it," she replied, pushing herself out of his arms and onto her feet. She then made a beeline towards Jason, walking right past him while speaking loudly enough for Tommy to catch her say, "…the shit I'm talking about. I literally throw myself at him and…"

From twenty feet away, Jason looked at Tommy and held up his arms as if to say, "What the hell did you do?" Jason then walked over to Tommy and asked him the same question out loud.

Tommy, who only now seemed to realize what had just happened, gave Jason the most helpless expression imaginable. "I-I don't know, bro," he answered honestly, bending down to retrieve his phone. "I was just talking to my mom and then all of a sudden she was there and I just…I froze up, man."

Jason sighed. "You're starting off the season in a slump, man."

"Tell me about it," muttered Tommy, forcing a chuckle. "I'm a complete idiot, aren't I?"

Laughing, Jason clasped Tommy on the shoulder and said, "Well, not a _complete_ idiot but, well, you know….Hey, look at it this way, it could always be worse. You could be Skull. At least you still have a chance."

"Yeah, right," scoffed Tommy, "Not after that shit; no way."

Jason shook his head. "Little faith you have, my young Padawan," he replied, in a damn near perfect impersonation of Yoda. "Train your mind, you must. The Force, your ally is. Only when accepted the Force you have, will complete your training be."

"You are so lame," muttered Tommy.

Kimberly reappeared before Jason could deliver a comeback, shooting an irritated look at Tommy before addressing Jason directly, "You ready to go up?"

"Yeah," said Jason, nodding.

Jason turned for the tower, but as Kimberly made to follow Tommy reached out and seized her wrist. When she turned around and their eyes met, Tommy very simply said, "I'm sorry, Kim."

Yanking her arm free, Kimberly rubbed her wrist and replied, "That's twice in one day, Tommy. Don't talk about it, be about it."

That said, she turned on her heels and jogged to catch up with Jason.

Tommy sighed. Things were definitely not off to a good start between him and Kimberly.

He soon followed after them, though it was not until he reached the line of people waiting to pay admission that he finally caught up to the pair. Kimberly was nearest him but he said nothing, simply standing there with his arms across his chest in silence. He was as far away from her as he could be while still appearing to be a part of the actual line.

Little by little the line crept forward, but still he said nothing and Kimberly did the same. They kept exchanging sideways glances at one another, though, until eventually Tommy could not take it any longer.

"Look, Kim, I said I was so —" started Tommy.

"You're paying for me," said Kimberly, over the top of him, her tone of voice leaving no room for argument.

Tommy smirked. "I didn't realize it was that easy."

"It's not," replied Kimberly, quite seriously.

Sighing, Tommy nodded in acceptance; Kimberly would make him earn her forgiveness, just as he had done to her when they had first started to rekindle their friendship. Still, it was a small price to pay in Tommy's eyes, and so he pulled his wallet out and paid the twenty-six euro fee for two elevator tickets to the top of the tower.

"Here," said Tommy, handing her the ticket while Jason stepped up to pay for himself. "Are we good now?"

Kimberly took the ticket with a laugh. "I think I just answered that question, Tommy. Thirteen euro isn't enough to get my forgiveness."

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "You're really going to make me _buy_ your forgiveness, Kim?"

"Who said anything about buying it?" replied Kimberly. "I just said thirteen euro wasn't going to do it." She then closed the small distance between them, brought her lips to his ear and whispered, "There are many, _many_ ways for you to earn my forgiveness, Tommy, none of which involve money."

"Are you sure you're not biting off more than you can chew here, Kim?" murmured Tommy with a wink.

"Oh, I'm sure I can bite off much more than what you've got," said Kimberly, with all the sultriness that she could muster. "Let's just say my gag reflex is almost non-existent and leave it at that for now."

Tommy grinned and said, "For now?"

"Yeah," said Kimberly, nodding, "For now."

"So are you two going to fuck here or back at the house?"

Immediately, Tommy and Kimberly whirled around to find Jason standing right behind them with his arms folded across his chest and an all-knowing smirk on his face. Tommy was about to tell Jason off, but Kimberly was speaking before he could say anything.

"That's a show that all these people don't deserve to see," said Kimberly, slipping her hand into the back pocket of Tommy's shorts. "You, on the other hand…you and Tommy have rooms right next to each other and, well, the walls aren't very thick at all."

Jason pretended to lurch. "Jason's going to be switching rooms soon," he replied, shaking his head. "Come on, let's go up."

--

The view from the Eiffel Tower had been spectacular no doubt, but neither Tommy nor Jason found it to be very interesting beyond that. To them it was just a huge chunk of funny shaped metal that happened to have a good bit of history behind it. Kimberly had tried to educate them on the tower's importance to the people of both Paris and all of France, but for once — and to Tommy's great surprise — Jason was entirely uninterested in the history of something, even when that something happened to be one of the greatest architectural works on the entire planet.

When they had returned to the Dumas' home it was nearly time for supper, so they split up and went to their rooms to get cleaned up a bit. Both Tommy and Jason seemed to have the same idea, for as soon as they had entered their rooms they stripped down to their socks and boxer shorts and began searching frantically for something to wear.

Hunched over his backpack as he rifled through it, Tommy looked up with a sudden realization. Standing straight, he spun around and ran right into the hallway, uncaring to the fact that he was almost naked. As soon as he turned, however, Tommy was met with the sight of Jason running directly at him.

Both men skidded across the hardwood floor, grabbing a hold of each other at the shoulders while spinning and somehow finding a way to stay on their feet. Once the danger of a collision had passed, the pair looked at each other and, in unison, exclaimed, "I have nothing to wear!"

"Dude," said Tommy. "The closest thing to nice clothes I have is jeans and a collared shirt. I wasn't expecting dinner in Richie Rich's house."

"Me neither," said Jason, shaking his head. "What do we do?"

Tommy shrugged. "Wing it, I guess. Maybe they won't be expecting you to dress up."

"Zey won't be."

Jason and Tommy spun around to find the butler standing behind them. He smirked at the sight of them in their boxer shorts but said nothing else; he merely walked between the two men and then down the staircase.

"That was kind of weird," said Jason, wondering how in the world they had not heard the butler approaching them from behind.

"Yeah, for sure," said Tommy, nodding. "Still…you heard what he said. They won't be expecting us to dress up."

"Best news I've heard all day," replied Jason. Giving Tommy a quick salute, he turned and disappeared back into his room as Tommy did the same.

Dinner turned out to be a rather pleasant series of events. It carried all the pomp and circumstance of a fancy meal, Caroline and Pierre's hired help waiting on their every need while they feasted on three delicious courses, but Caroline and Pierre went out of their way to make sure Tommy and Jason felt at ease in their home.

Over the two hours spent at the elegant dining room table Tommy learned more about what Kimberly had been up to in the last few years than she had ever told him. Caroline seemed more than eager to divulge even the smallest of details — much to Kimberly's embarrassment — right down to how many serious relationships she had had following their breakup — just one.

Tommy would smile and acknowledge Caroline politely, but when she looked away he always made sure to give Kimberly a look that said he was not taking anything too seriously. Still, he could not help but feel that Caroline was trying to hint at something more. What it was, though, he did not know.

Kimberly's track record could have meant a number of things. Maybe she was afraid of commitment. Or maybe that one relationship had lasted five years. Or maybe she had avoided relationships altogether in the hope that they would one day be together again.

The mere thought of Kimberly spending the better part of the last decade pining away for him had been enough to make Tommy laugh out loud at a point where no one had said anything even remotely funny, causing him to hastily explain his laughter with a half-baked excuse, very much like the ones he had told his mother upon coming home from school with a dozen new bruises at least three times a week. Luckily, Jason had intervened, telling Caroline and Pierre that he, too, remembered that one time they had gone bowling before bursting into a fit of fake laughter.

When they had made their way through soup and salad; Chicken Cordon Bleu, steamed vegetables and creamy risotto; and the most delicious chocolate cake that any of them had ever tasted, Jason sat back with his hands on his stomach and said, "It's going to take a lot of push-ups to burn that off."

Everyone laughed as the butler — whose name had finally been revealed by Pierre as Gaston — approached the table with a bottle of very expensive wine to refill their glasses. When he had first uncorked the bottle an hour earlier, Kimberly had told Tommy under her breath that the bottle of wine they had shared at lunch was like boxed wine to Pierre.

Underneath the table, Tommy hastily typed a text message to Jason, who was seated across from him. A minute later Jason's eyes went to his pants pocket, a hearty laugh escaping his lips as he silently read, _"U think alfred would lead us 2 the batcave if we follow him out?"_

"What's so funny Jason?" said Kimberly, eyeing him curiously.

"Nothing," Jason lied, giving Kimberly a shut-up-I'll-tell-you-later look.

Kimberly rolled her eyes but said nothing. Shortly thereafter, however, she wished she would have. In the brief silence that followed Caroline took it upon herself to interject, questioning Tommy and Jason as to whether or not they would like to see Kimberly's baby pictures. Immediately, Tommy noticed the sudden appearance of a glimmer in Jason's eyes and the widespread grin on his face, followed quickly by Kimberly's wide-eyed and open-mouthed expression of pure, unadulterated horror.

"Oh, I would lo —" started Jason.

"As great as that sounds," said Tommy loudly, "We really can't tonight, Caroline. Kim's taking us downtown, showing us the nightlife, you know?"

Jason frowned deeply at his best friend, lips pouted and arms across his chest like a child about to throw a temper tantrum.

"Of course," said Caroline with a polite smile, "Perhaps tomorrow instead."

"Definitely," said Tommy, nodding despite having no intentions of putting Kimberly in that position. He could vividly recall a few different occasions where his own mother had insisted on showing off his baby pictures; as funny as he knew it would be to see Kimberly's, no one deserved to be subjected to that kind of pain.

"Okay, you just made it up to me," whispered Kimberly.

Tommy just chuckled softly. A short while later — after dinner had been finished and the three former Rangers had temporarily retired to their rooms — Tommy and Jason emerged in the hallway wearing the same outfits they had worn on their night out in Vienna.

"If I end up passed out with all of my stuff stolen, I'm fucking burning this shirt," said Tommy matter-of-factly.

Jason laughed. "It might just be me, but I really don't think you have to worry about Kim drugging you, bro."

"Who said anything about Kim?" said Tommy, raising an eyebrow.

"But…earlier…the tower…" said Jason incredulously. "You guys were eye-fucking the shit out of each other!"

Tommy shrugged. "If I thought it would be more than a fling, maybe. Like I've always said, though, I'm not going to chance our friendship just for a night of sex. Even if we spent the next month together, at the end of the day she lives in Miami and I live in California. It'd never work long-term and I really don't need a re-creation of high school."

For a moment Jason looked prepared to reply, but ended up just shaking his head and starting towards the stairs, unable to find anything worth saying to Tommy at that moment. Then, at the top step, something hit him that caused Jason to turn back around.

"You know something, man," he started. "I know we joke about each other being dumb and stupid and all that stuff, but if you really believe the horse shit that just came out of your mouth then you really are a gigantic fucking idiot."

Tommy sputtered in surprise. By the time he had thought of something to say, Jason had already disappeared down the stairs. Tommy pursued, prepared to argue his case further, but when he got downstairs Kimberly was already there. He froze at the mid-point of the staircase, staring at Kimberly with his mouth agape.

She had on a hot pink one-piece jumpsuit; the top was a plunged-neck halter with a peek-a-boo waistline that exposed her hips, while the bottom was a miniskirt that barely covered her ass. Her makeup only accentuated her already-stunning features, but even in three-inch silver stilettos Tommy could tell that she still would not come up to his chin.

Tommy shook his head clear and continued down the stairs before she realized that he was ogling her like a teenager staring at his first pair of breasts. "Trying to impress someone?" he said with a laugh.

"No one here," replied Kimberly, smirking.

Standing just behind her, Jason gave Tommy a look that very plainly said, _"Hey idiot, don't mess this up!"_ Tommy narrowed his eyes for a moment, but nodded discreetly nonetheless. He then directed his attention to Kimberly and said, "Should we go then?"

Kimberly nodded. "Come on, we'll take one of Pierre's cars. There's no way I'm going on the train looking like this."

"Good," said Tommy, smiling, "Because I really don't want to have to fight off all the guys in Paris."

Kimberly's cheeks turned slightly pink, her smile somewhat embarrassed as she turned and motioned for Tommy and Jason to follow. A few steps behind her, Jason caught up to Tommy and elbowed him in the ribs discreetly.

"Knew you weren't a total fool," he muttered, grinning.

Tommy shrugged. "We'll soon see, won't we?"

"So," said Kimberly, looking back at them; she locked eyes with Tommy for a moment and flashed another quick smile before turning around and continuing, "What scene are you guys looking for? Paris has everything: house and electronica; live rock bands; hip-hop and R you name it, Paris has it."

"Anything but the first choice," said Tommy firmly, causing Jason to burst out laughing.

Kimberly furrowed her brow at them as they made their way down the same stretch of hallway that Jason had used to snoop on her earlier. "What's so funny?" she asked.

Jason looked at Tommy, silently asking him if it was okay to tell her. Tommy debated this momentarily, but inevitably gave in with a helpless sigh and shrug. Jason then spent the next few minutes telling Kimberly all about Tommy's Viennese experience with house music; Jason conveniently — and to Tommy's great relief — left out the fact that the girl who had drugged and robbed Tommy was the same girl he, Tommy, had been trying to hook up with.

"Oh, you poor thing, I'm so sorry," said Kimberly sympathetically. Behind her back, Tommy and Jason exchanged amused looks with each other.

"It's no big deal," said Tommy casually, Jason rolling his eyes playfully. "Shit happens, you know?"

Kimberly shook her head as they reached a single door at the end of the hallway. "I don't know about you," she replied, opening the door for them, "But I'd be pretty pissed if that had happened to me, especially on my first night in Europe."

Tommy just shrugged. He would have replied but he was too busy staring in disbelief at the inside of a garage that was quite possibly bigger than his entire house. Not only were there ten cars of different colors, makes and models, but also three motorcycles and two gas pumps.

"Pierre's fucking loaded," murmured Tommy, his eyes focused on the red 2005 Ferrari Enzo.

"You can say that again," whispered Jason, who stared longingly at the black-and-silver 1958 Harley-Davidson Sportster.

"What'll it be boys?" said Kimberly, motioning towards the vehicles.

"We can take anything?" asked Tommy incredulously.

Kimberly nodded. "Anything except that," she replied, pointing towards the far end of the garage where a white 1936 Cord Roadster sat. "Pierre won't let anyone drive it. Hell, he doesn't even drive it himself."

Tommy shook his head. "He's got a Cord Roadster and he doesn't even drive it?" he said, Kimberly nodding. "What the hell is the point of having a car you never drive?"

"Who knows?" said Kimberly, shrugging. "So, what do you guys want to take?"

"Well, all three of us aren't going to fit in the Ferrari, or the Lamborghini for that matter," said Tommy, with a hint of disappointment. "What do you think, Jase?"

"The Jeep's probably our best bet," said Jason, indicating the near-new Grand Cherokee colored gunmetal blue.

"Shotgun!" yelled Tommy, running past Jason to the passenger side door.

"Really?" said Kimberly, as she and Jason started after him. "We're still calling shotgun at our age?"

Tommy laughed. "You're never too old to call shotgun, Kim, especially when you're riding with this guy," he replied, jerking his thumb at Jason. "He intentionally puts his seat back as far as it can go just to be an asshole."

"Dude, I've got long legs!" argued Jason indignantly.

"You've been saying that since we were fifteen," said Tommy, shaking his head.

As Tommy and Jason bantered back and forth, Kimberly walked over to a wooden rack on a nearby wall and grabbed a key ring. "Are you girlies done arguing yet or what?" she questioned, as she walked back to the SUV.

Everything came to a screeching halt at that point. Tommy and Jason could do little than stare at each other for nearly a minute; even when Kimberly tried to regain their attention they remained focused on one another.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," said Jason, shaking his head while waving his arms wildly. "Did she just insult —?"

"— us?" finished Tommy, just as bewildered as Jason.

Kimberly folded her arms across her chest, standing with her hip jutted out exaggeratedly. "You two are _not_ the only ones capable of a good insult, you know? I could throw zingers at you that would make you both cry."

Tommy and Jason shared another look with each other — though much briefer — before both burst out in simultaneous fits of intentionally over-the-top hysterics. Kimberly, of course, looked none too impressed with their antics. Then both suddenly stopped laughing, stood straight, took deep breaths, and climbed into the car without a word.

It took Kimberly a few moments of staring at them through the windshield before she was able to regain enough of her composure to slide into the driver's seat. "You guys are both assholes," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Sorry, Kim," said Jason. "It's just…the fact that you genuinely think you could compete with me and Tommy is absolutely hilarious. We've been doing this for years; it's like a Little League team trying to play the New York Yankees. Like always, you'd come up _short_."

"Hey now!" exclaimed Tommy, shooting Jason a scolding look. "Come on, bro, that's not fair."

"Thank you," said Kimberly, nodding firmly. She started the car. "It's good to know one of you has my back."

"That's not hard considering it's the size of a Barbie doll," said Tommy, sharing a laugh with Jason as they slapped hands. "You opened yourself up for that one, Kim."

"Too bad that's going to be the only thing that opens for _you_ tonight," replied Kimberly, glaring at Tommy as she opened the garage door and pulled out.

"Does that mean he's not getting laid?" asked Jason.

Navigating a stretch of winding pavement that led around the house, to the tic-tac-toe board of a driveway in front, Kimberly nodded fiercely and said, "That's exactly what it means."

"_Bullshit!"_ coughed Jason, into his hand.

Kimberly glowered at him, unable to see Tommy's widespread grin. "Keep it up and I'll make sure every girl in the club knows about Jason Scott, the first Power Ranger with herpes."

Jason narrowed his eyes. "But I don't have herpes…"

"Doesn't matter," replied Kimberly, as they rolled to a stop before the massive gate. "See, I happen to know the DJ where we're going. Once he gets on the microphone and tells two-hundred women that the meathead in red has herpes, it's over."

"Ouch," whispered Tommy, shooting Jason an apologetic look. "Sucks for you, bro."

That was all it took for Kimberly's attention to shift Tommy's way. "Oh, don't even get me started on you, mister. You've already blown one shot; I'm not above telling those people that you have herpes as well…or that you guys got it from each other."

Tommy gaped at Kimberly. "Well damn," he murmured, crossing his arms in defeat.

"I think we underestimated the enemy, broseff," said Jason, patting Tommy on the shoulder.

"She burned us bad, broham," replied Tommy, nodding.

"She nailed us, Brostradamus."

"You don't even know, brosephur."

"Would you guys shut the hell up with your stupid bro-crap?" yelled Kimberly furiously. "It's not funny…not even remotely. In fact, it's actually quite stupid. God, I swear, it's like you're two seven year-old kids or something."

Tommy smiled. "Hey, Siscrates, can you take it down a notch please? The hostility is entirely unnecessary and even more unwelcome."

"Siscrates! Ha!" exclaimed Jason, slapping Tommy's arm. "Wow; that was a good one, brohanski."

Kimberly rolled her eyes in frustration, but the looks that Tommy and Jason wore made it incredibly hard not to laugh right along with them. In the end, she succumbed to the pressure. The inside of the car was nothing but laughter for quite some time, until all three occupants were short of breath and clutching their stomachs desperately.

"Now I remember why I love you two so much," said Kimberly, when breathing was no longer an arduous task. "I don't think I've laughed that hard in years, especially not over something as utterly moronic as 'broseff' and 'Brostradamus.'"

"Don't hate just because our sense of humor is obviously more sophisticated than yours will ever be," replied Jason.

Kimberly just shook her head. It was not long after that when they reached the downtown area, its streets brightly illuminated, lined with cars — both parked and moving — and a slew of pedestrians en route to one of the many clubs and bars in the district. Off in the distance, the well-lit Eiffel Tower cast its glow upon the city.

"It looks so much more interesting at night," murmured Tommy.

"Understatement of the century, bro," said Jason.

A minute later Kimberly swung the SUV to the curb and parallel-parked it between two other cars, in an open space barely capable of holding the vehicle's length. "This is it," she announced, dropping the keys into a tiny handbag and clasping it shut.

As they walked towards the brick building across the street, Kimberly explained a bit about the club to them. It had a name Tommy could not pronounce, but from what she said, it sounded much better than _Flex_. Truth be told, though, all it took was for her to say that this club did not play house music for it to be better than _Flex_.

Tommy's first impression was that the outside looked very much like what he was used to back in the States. From halfway across the street he could hear American hip-hop playing loudly. There was also a very long line of guys waiting in front of a door guarded by two muscle-bound men in black tee shirts, a line that Tommy watched a small group of women pass by without question as the bouncers moved to let them in.

"Yeah, that's more like it," he muttered, nodding to himself.

Jason and Tommy seemed to be thinking on a similar wavelength, as both started drifting towards the back of the line, prepared to wait like everyone else that didn't have any cleavage to show. Kimberly, however, quickly seized both by the wrist and pulled them towards the door. As soon as the bouncers saw her approaching, they parted like they were the Red Sea to her Moses.

"What —?" Jason asked in disbelief.

"How —?" added Tommy.

Kimberly grinned. "The power of boobs, boys, the power of boobs," she replied, with a laugh. As she led them deeper into the packed club, towards the crowded bar, she looked back and added, "It doesn't hurt that Pierre's brother owns the place, either."

"No, I'd imagine not," murmured Tommy, looking around with an expression that was as relieved as it was thankful; this place was nothing like _Flex._ It was as if someone had gone to a nightclub in New York City one night, lifted the building and all of the patrons inside, and moved it to this location. "I fucking love it!" he added.

Kimberly smirked. "Are you going to ask me what I want to drink or what?"

Tommy frowned deeply. "I thought you said I didn't have to buy your forgiveness."

"That was for earlier," said Kimberly. "This is for making fun of me in the car."

Tommy sighed. "What do you want to drink?"

"A martini, extra dirty, with an olive," said Kimberly.

Tommy nodded and approached the bar. No sooner had a pretty blonde bartender started towards him than he realized that he would not be able to order the drinks at all. Luckily, Jason was already standing behind him so that, when the bartender began speaking in rapid French, Tommy did not look like a complete idiot.

Jason ordered the drinks and waited at Tommy's side until they were delivered. Then Jason took his and Kimberly's glasses and walked away, leaving Tommy to struggle through paying the tab. Jason and Kimberly were sitting at a table overlooking the dance floor when Tommy reappeared a few minutes later, looking none too pleased.

"That was for drinking my beer in Vienna," explained Jason. "Now we're even."

For a moment, Tommy looked poised to argue, but seemed to think better of it, giving a silent nod of understanding as he sat down between Jason and Kimberly. They chatted casually for awhile, playing a bit more catch-up as loud hip-hop and R&B — in both English and French — played in the background.

As they talked Kimberly's attention kept drifting back and forth between her friends and the people on the dance floor. She had gotten all dressed up and was sitting at a table doing the same thing that she could have been doing at home with none of the effort. Needless to say, she was getting a bit antsy.

Jason seemed to notice this, for when Kimberly was not looking he kicked Tommy's leg under the table and jerked his head towards the dance floor while mouthing the words, "Ask her to dance, you moron."

Tommy pondered this for a moment. He then rose to his feet and slammed back his whiskey and Coke in one gulp. Flinching from the burn of the whiskey as it slid down his throat, he looked down at a distracted Kimberly and said, "Hey!"

Kimberly's attention did not waver from the dance floor.

"Hey, Kim!" continued Tommy, tapping her on the shoulder.

Finally she looked his way. "Hmm?" she replied.

"You want to dance?"

To say that Kimberly's expression was one of surprise would have been a vast understatement. She looked as though she had awoken and stepped outside to a world of green skies and orange grass. "You-you're serious?" she questioned.

Tommy nodded. "Let's go," he said, extending a hand to her.

Kimberly smiled as she took his hand and rose to her feet, allowing him to lead her towards the dance floor. "I'm impressed," she told him. "I was always the one who had to ask _you _to dance."

"Times have changed," said Tommy, as they reached an open place.

With one swift maneuver he: spun Kimberly around so that her back was towards him; wrapped his arm around her waist; and pulled her in close. "Yes," said Kimberly, nodding, "They certainly have."

Soon they were dancing closely. Kimberly could feel him pressed tightly against her backside. He moved in ways she was not used to from him; this was definitely not the Tommy she had dated in high school. The Tommy of old was always confident when punching or kicking something — or someone — but getting anything beyond a slow dance out of him back then had been like pulling teeth.

Now, however, things were different. They were different and they would never be the same again.


	5. Parisian Decision

_**Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter Five — Parisian Decision**_

_**Original Posting Date: August, 2009**_

_**A/N 1: We will soon — sooner than you may think — be reaching into the world of the mature. You know what I mean. *winks* If that's not your thing, now's the time to turn away.**_

--

As the night slowly wore on it became clear that the heat between Tommy and Kimberly was rising by the second. For nearly two hours they barely said anything as they danced closely; really, though, there was nothing that needed to be said.

At one point Jason had drifted into their vicinity with a young brunette he had asked to dance, but immediately led her away upon seeing the pair. Kimberly's arms were at his neck, Tommy's around her waist. There could not have been more than three inches of space between their lips, yet they never kissed, both unaware that the urges they were currently suppressing were very much shared.

When the silence was finally broken, it was a breathless and glistening Kimberly who pulled away and said, "Wow! You — I would have never thought — dancing like that — wow!"

Tommy chuckled, half-smirking.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" added Kimberly. "You did _not_ move that well in high school."

Again Tommy laughed, this time with a shrug. "Probably college, I'd say. That's about when I figured out that dancing and karate were both just a bunch of fancy footwork. I guess it was kind of the reverse Zack-effect."

"I'm impressed," said Kimberly, smiling. She then took Tommy's hand and continued, "C'mon, I need a drink after that."

"Yeah, me too," said Tommy, nodding his agreement. They started towards the bar. "You're buying this time, though."

"Is that so?"

"Yep," said Tommy. "I paid for the Eiffel Tower and for your last drink. We've been around each other less than a day and I've already spent more on you than I did in our entire first month of dating."

"Oh wow," muttered Kimberly, shaking her head. "That's right. I totally forgot what a cheapskate you were back then."

Tommy's eyes widened like saucers. "I was only making, like, fifty bucks a week cutting lawns on the weekend _and_ I was trying to save for a car! Not to mention the fact that Ernie never paid us for all those karate lessons in the Youth Center. Besides, I'm not the one with the trust fund. If anyone should be paying for stuff, it's you."

Kimberly narrowed her eyes at Tommy as they approached the bar. She seemed poised to argue for a moment, but ended up just shaking her head again. "What do you want to drink?" she questioned. Apparently Tommy's point had been a valid one.

He asked for a beer while wearing a triumphant smile on his face. While they waited for the bartender to get their drinks, Tommy casually slipped his hand to the small of Kimberly's back, brought his lips to her ear, and whispered, "Did you pick this outfit with the intention of having half the bar ogle you, because that's what they're doing."

A slight grin crossed Kimberly's lips. "It wasn't for them," she replied, with a wink.

"That's good," said Tommy. "I'd have a whole lot of asses to kick if it was."

"Aw, you would fight them all for me? That's so sweet," said Kimberly, her tone an air of sarcastically sweet innocence.

"I'd fight all of France if I had to," said Tommy, quite seriously.

Kimberly just smiled, not really sure what to say.

Even if he could not have her, the thought of Kimberly with someone else was enough to put a series of wrenching knots in his stomach. Why, though…? He had never felt this way before….

The answer came to him almost instantly.

Kimberly, at least in his eyes, had always been incredibly beautiful, but her beauty had also always been as innocent as her personality. It was subtle, tucked away behind the sundresses, straw bucket hats, and combat boots. Now, however, her beauty had eclipsed itself into an undeniable level of sexiness that had not been there before. For the first time ever he was forced to appreciate that Kimberly had truly grown into her womanhood.

He had no idea how many men Kimberly had slept with — and had no plans on asking her, either — but, suddenly, he found himself wanting to violently dismember each and every man she had been with. Though he had not met a single one of them, he knew without a doubt that they were all the luckiest sons of bitches on the planet; none of them deserved _his_ Kimberly.

All of the sudden he felt very protective of her; the hand that had been on Kimberly's back quickly slinked around her waist, Tommy keeping her close to his side as they chatted casually and quietly at the bar. Kimberly noticed this change but said nothing of it; she had no objections whatsoever to being close to Tommy.

Taking a sip from his beer bottle, a slightly tipsy Tommy said, "God — that outfit — you look so amazing, Kimberly."

Kimberly's cheeks flushed pink as she smiled back at him. "Just amazing?" she replied.

Tommy grinned. "You look beautiful," he amended, somehow instinctively knowing exactly what it was that Kimberly wanted to hear. "You _are_ beautiful," he added, his fingertips dancing along her side.

"You know," said Kimberly, almost distantly. "You're not the only person who's said that, but it never meant what it did to me coming from them that it did when it came from you."

Tommy was on the verge of saying something he thought to be incredibly witty when suddenly…

"_She said she wants some Marvin Gaye, some Luther Vandross, a little Anita will definitely set this party off right…"_

"I fucking love this song!" exclaimed Tommy and Kimberly in unison. They shared a smile at that.

"Come on," said Tommy, grabbing her hand as he started back towards the dance floor.

It was getting very close to two o'clock in the morning — neither Tommy nor Kimberly looking ready to leave — when Jason appeared at their side once more. Jason tapped Tommy on his shoulder, but Tommy was so preoccupied with Kimberly that it took Jason multiple attempts before finally being able to garner Tommy's attention, distracted as it was.

"'Sup bro?" said Tommy, sparing the most fleeting of glances over his shoulder.

"They just had last call," said Jason, his voice fighting to cover the music. "We should probably get going pretty soon."

"But —" Tommy started.

"He's right," said Kimberly, over the top of him. Four adult beverages and half of Tommy's beer had left her eyes glossy; add in nearly five hours worth of dancing and she was very much ready to call it a night.

Tommy released his hold on Kimberly's waist, shrugging his shoulders as he said, "Alright, let's go then."

"Give me the keys," said Jason firmly, extending his hand.

Kimberly gave no argument, well aware that she was in no condition to drive. She opened the small handbag that had been hanging from her shoulder all night, fished out the keys to the Jeep, and handed them over to Jason.

Jason took the keys with a grin. "No one's going to call shotgun?"

Tommy and Kimberly looked at each other, shook their heads, and turned to Jason. "Nope," they replied, both smirking.

Chuckling knowingly, Jason nodded his head and they started towards the exit. Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, Kimberly's arm found its way around Tommy's waist; quickly, Tommy's arm went to her shoulder.

"Aw, look at poor Jason all alone," said Kimberly teasingly, loud enough that Jason could hear her from his lead position a few feet ahead. Jason glowered at Kimberly as she went on, "What's the matter, Jase? Couldn't find anyone dumb enough to catch the herpes?"

"No," said Jason, grinning from ear to ear, "But it looks like Tommy did."

Kimberly sputtered as her eyes became wide with shock. Tommy shot Jason a discreet smile, making sure Kimberly — who was looking more and more horrified by the moment — did not see it. All the way to the exit Jason waited for some kind of comeback. Still, he was not surprised when nothing came. Kimberly was good — she had proved that much to him earlier — but she was not _that_ good.

"It's okay, Kim, really," commented Jason, as they stepped into the cool night air, turning back and patting her shoulder. "Like I said back at the house, you're a minor leaguer trying to play with the big boys."

Glaring viciously, Kimberly looked up at Tommy and said, "Do something, dammit!"

"What do you want me to do?" asked Tommy, with an air of helplessness.

"Trini told me all about the chokehold you did on that guy in Zurich," said Kimberly. "Let's see it in action."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Tommy, shaking his head as he stared at Jason, who was now refusing to meet Tommy's eyes. "How does Trini know about that, Jason?"

"Err — I _might_ have accidentally let it slip on the way to Geneva while you were sleeping," said Jason.

Tommy's arm moved from Kimberly's shoulder as he threw both in the air. "What the fuck, bro?" he replied. "You know how fast that shit moves through the circle! Dude, Tanya and my mom go to the same gym for crying out loud! I'm going to be getting a call from my mom any day now, wondering why in the world her idiot son is trying to become a fucking felon in goddamn Europe! Fucking-A, man! Worst leader ever…"

Jason winced. Tommy said nothing as they approached the Jeep; he simply climbed into the backseat and shot Jason a look in the rearview mirror that said talking would more than likely be severely detrimental to Jason's health and safety. Kimberly muttered something about lightening up, but then Tommy gave her the same look and she instantly went quiet and straight-faced. Tommy did not get like this often, but as both Jason and Kimberly knew, when he did it was usually best to back as far away as quickly as was humanly possible.

Only once or twice did the silence break as they drove back to the Dumas' home. Tommy heard Jason mutter something to Kimberly in an attempt to strike up a conversation, but Kimberly simply looked at Jason in the rearview mirror and shook her head; a Tommy-explosion was the last thing she wanted to deal with, a buzz killer if there ever was one.

Still, by the time they were approaching the giant iron gates, Tommy's mood had lightened considerably. Truth be told, he knew that it had been a rather stupid thing to get upset over in the first place, even with the possible prospect of having to have such an unpleasant conversation with his mother.

"Tanya wouldn't say anything, right?" murmured Tommy, looking from Kimberly to Jason's mirrored eyes.

With a concealed smile, Jason let out a sigh of relief. "Nah, I don't think so," he replied, thankful that Tommy's anger seemed to be short-lived. "Tanya's not the type of person to go blabbing about something like that. Now, if it was someone like _her_," he continued, indicating Kimberly as they pulled through the gates, "Then I'd be worried."

"Wow, Tommy's the one who acts like a dick and _I'm_ the one that gets made fun of," muttered Kimberly, with a bitter chuckle. "Yeah," she scoffed, "Because _that_ makes perfect sense. Way to _not_ be an ass-head, Jase."

"I was kind of a dick, wasn't I?" said Tommy, to Kimberly, intentionally saving Jason from having to defend himself. Jason and Tommy briefly met eyes in the rearview mirror once more, and immediately all was forgiven on both sides.

"Yeah, you were," said Kimberly, nodding as she let out a short burst of laughter. "Talk about turning a mountain into a molehill."

"Eh, shit happens," said Tommy, shrugging and flashing a smile to Kimberly.

A few seconds later they were pulling into the garage. They had barely pulled to a stop when Jason hopped out of the car, threw the keys back onto the rack, and was at the door back into the house by the time Tommy and Kimberly had clambered out of their seats.

"Where are you headed off to in such a hurry?" said Kimberly curiously.

"Oh, you know," said Jason, raising his arms high above his head while letting out a yawn that was far too loud to be real. "It's been a long night," he continued, giving Tommy and Kimberly a big, exaggerated wink. "I think I'll just hit the hay."

Tommy and Kimberly shared an amused look as Jason slipped into the house.

"He really thinks we're going to have sex, doesn't he?" said Kimberly, hands on her hips.

"Yeah," said Tommy, laughing. Then, a heartbeat later, realization dawned. "Wait — we're not having sex?"

"I don't know," said Kimberly, smirking wickedly as she shrugged her shoulders. "Are we?"

Tommy folded his arms across his chest. "Do you want to?"

"Do you?"

"Dammit, Kim, stop answering questions with questions!" said Tommy, clearly frustrated.

Kimberly just kept on smiling. She was very much enjoying watching Tommy agonizing. She was not, however, prepared for the silence that followed as Tommy steadfastly refused to play into her games any longer. They did nothing but stare at each other for what felt like hours. In the end, it was Kimberly who finally broke the silence.

With a sigh, she shook her head and said, "I thought you didn't want a one night stand?"

Tommy's eyes narrowed. "Who said anything about a one night stand?"

"Tommy," started Kimberly, pausing as she found herself struggling for the right words. "We're not — Reefside and Miami — it just wouldn't…."

She never got to finish her sentence, mostly due to the fact that her lips became rather occupied by Tommy's before her thought could be completed. His kiss had been unexpected to say the least, but she found it rather easy to return once she had realized what was happening.

Never before had he kissed her like this: their mouths were opening and closing rapidly as Tommy pulled her in against his chest; Kimberly could not help the pleasured moan that escaped her parted lips when Tommy's tongue darted into her mouth. In one fluent motion Tommy grabbed her by the waist; lifted her into the air, forcing Kimberly to wrap her legs around him for support; and slowly stepped forward until her back was pressed against the passenger side door of the Grand Cherokee.

Only when both found themselves gasping for oxygen did the kiss break, but even then their lips hovered just inches away as they breathed deeply in an almost eerie rhythm. Their eyes met, Kimberly biting her lip as a smile formed.

"Who taught you to kiss like that?" she murmured breathlessly.

"Kat," answered Tommy seriously.

"I'll have to send her my thanks," said Kimberly, her arms wrapped around Tommy's neck, holding onto him as though being more than a few inches from his body would surely be the end of her very existence.

Tommy grinned. "Not for that," he replied, nipping at her lips as he maneuvered around and started towards the door. "But you'll definitely want to in the morning."

Kimberly smirked. "That good, huh?" she replied.

After another kiss, Tommy breathed, "So I've been told anyway."

Kimberly just laughed. It was not until they reentered the hallway that Kimberly finally said, "We should probably go to my room — Jason, you know…."

Tommy nodded. "Good point," he murmured. "Which one's yours?"

"This one," answered Kimberly, touching the door. She then reached for the brass knob and gave it a slow turn, pushing open the door to total darkness inside. As Tommy moved them inside, she found the light switch on the wall and hit it, giving the room instant illumination.

Tommy could do little more than laugh when he looked around and saw that damn near everything in the room was bubblegum pink. Like his bed upstairs, hers was a four-poster as well, though this one had frilly pink drapes that had been pulled back to reveal a bed littered with different stuffed animals. The walls were adorned with framed photographs and taped-up magazine clippings of boy bands and pop singers whose popularity had long since died out.

Upon seeing the look on Tommy's face, a suddenly self-conscious Kimberly felt the need to say, "This is the first time I've been here in three years; I didn't really see the sense in redecorating everything, you know?"

Tommy sent a smirk Kimberly's way. "I see you still have old Dragon Caesar," he replied, indicating a plush green dragon at the forefront of her animal collection. He had won it for her at a school carnival on one of their first dates.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "It's not Dragon Caesar, its Caesar the Dragon," she said in frustration. "How many times do we have to go over that?"

Tommy shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure out what in the world was going through your head when you decided to name it after what you were eating at the time. Thank God you weren't eating a corn dog…"

Kimberly laughed. "Do you want something to drink?"

Tommy eyed her carefully. "I'm not going to wake up in the morning with everything missing, am I?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" murmured Kimberly, disappearing with a sly wink.

As soon as she was out of the room she took off towards the other side of the house at breakneck speeds, intending to get as far away from Tommy as she possibly could. She had played her part well, containing the conflicting emotions that had started bubbling from the moment they had entered her room, but she could not contain it any longer.

She entered the darkened kitchen and turned the lights on; opened the freezer door and pulled out a bottle of Grey Goose vodka; retrieved a glass from a nearby cabinet, filled it halfway, and drained it in one gulp. Her body shuddered from the burning sensation as the ice cold liquid slid down her throat.

"What the hell am I doing?" she gasped, gripping the marble countertop.

Next moment she was hugging herself tightly, repeatedly pondering that question in silence. Her thoughts were spinning; nothing made sense. Half of her wanted nothing more than to march back into her room and give Tommy the best night of his life. The other half was certain that doing so would be the biggest mistake she could ever make. Neither she nor Tommy wanted a one night fling, and the logistics surrounding anything more than that would have been impossible for even Billy to decipher.

Sighing deeply, she poured herself another glass of vodka and downed it to the same result as before. She set the glass in the sink, returned the bottle to the freezer, and headed back towards her bedroom. Whether the drinks had been for the courage to say "yes" or to say "no," Kimberly was not certain. She was not to find out either way however.

She had barely made it to the double-staircase when she realized that eight ounces of straight vodka in less than ten minutes time was a poor decision. Her eyes drooped as though she had been hit with a sudden burst of tiredness; her mind spun and her legs began to wobble slightly as she padded down the hallway, finding the wall and using it to guide her.

When her bedroom door opened and Tommy saw her, he quickly sprang from his position on the bed and moved towards her; it was painfully obvious that she was inebriated beyond self-control. He felt a pang of hurt and winced at the sight of her, but then she started speaking and everything else went out the window.

"Tommy, I — I don't — I don't think we — we shouldn't…."

A distant sigh escaped her lips and a second later her eyes snapped shut, her body slumping towards the floor. Tommy moved in a flash to catch her before she hit the hardwood; holding her basket-style, he carried Kimberly's sleeping form to the bed and laid her down carefully. He spent the next few minutes trying to get her into bed without violating anything personal — which he somehow managed to do successfully — and then turned and walked away with one of the most hurt, yet equally confused, expressions that he had ever worn.

--

Awkward did not even begin to describe the mood at the dining room table when they breakfasted the next morning. With Pierre long gone at work, Caroline had gone out of her way to prepare a traditional American breakfast in honor of Tommy and Jason's arrival, and while Jason ate as though it was his last meal, Tommy hardly picked at the bacon, scrambled eggs, and blueberry pancakes on the plate in front of him. He ate just enough so as to not appear rude or unappreciative; the rest of his time was spent looking at Kimberly — who was steadfastly refusing to meet his eyes — and trying to figure out what she was thinking after the events of the previous night.

For the brief time they were at the table Caroline and Jason shared a series of concerned looks over Tommy and Kimberly, who were speaking to everyone else except each other. Finally, after nearly an hour, Gaston came to clear the table and Tommy made a beeline for his room, completely unaware that Jason was hot on his tail. Tommy had just opened the bedroom door when Jason's hand fell on his shoulder, whirling Tommy around in surprise.

"WHAT?" demanded Tommy, harsher than he had meant to. He winced and said, "Sorry, man, I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

Jason nodded in understanding. "What's going on, bro? You and Kim didn't say a single word to each other the entire time we were down there…"

"Yeah, well, maybe you should ask her what's going on, because I have no fucking clue," answered Tommy, with a hint of bitterness. "One minute everything's fine, the next she's totally wasted, stammering like a wino and passed out."

"Seriously?" said Jason, his surprise evident as Tommy nodded. "Damn, man, that sucks big time. I wonder what her deal is."

"I know what her deal is," muttered Tommy, shaking his head. "She's a fucking nut-job. She gets all mad at me because I apparently can't take a hint, but then, when I finally do, she goes and does something like this. You should have heard her, man. 'T-Tommy!'" he continued, his voice high-pitched and girlish. "'I don't — I don't think we should —' _BOOM!_ Out like a light. I don't fucking get her, bro. She's more of a head-case than I am, and that's really saying something."

Forcing a laugh, Jason ran his hand through his hair and said, "I don't know what to tell you, man. Maybe you should talk to Kim about this instead of me. Obviously something's going on with her, and while I have my suspicions, I'm not going to start throwing out half-baked guesses when I don't know the whole story."

Tommy folded his arms across his chest, looking at Jason firmly as he replied firmly, "What do you think is going on?"

The Don't-lie-to-me-or-I'll-murder-you look on Tommy's face forced Jason to sigh. "Tommy," he said, clasping his friend on the shoulder. "Isn't it obvious?"

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "If it was, I wouldn't be asking."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Come on, bro, you've known Kim long enough. My guess is that she feels the same way you do. Neither one of you want a one night stand, right?" he continued, Tommy nodding. "Well, then, that's it. None of us are going to be in Paris much longer, and Kim probably felt like last night would have been a one-and-done kind of thing, which, all things considered, I can't blame her for."

"Well, that's her problem, not mine," said Tommy adamantly. "I've done everything I possibly can. Obviously, it's just not meant to be, I guess. Whatever…I'm ready to get out of this stupid city anyway."

"What? Why?" said Jason, scratching his head. "We haven't even seen half the city yet!"

Tommy shrugged nonchalantly. "Stay then, but I'm not," he replied, to Jason's dismay. "I'M GOING TO AMSTERDAM, THE DRUG AND SEX CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!" he proclaimed, hoping that Kimberly had heard him from downstairs. "WHERE PEOPLE DON'T ACT LIKE THEY WANT IT AND THEN RUN AWAY AT THE LAST SECOND!"

"_Pardonnez-moi, _but I could not help overhearing," said a third voice, in a very dry tone. Tommy and Jason stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment, and then slowly turned around to find Gaston the butler standing behind them with a smile. "_Monsieur _Tummy, _Mademoiselle _Kimberly, as you know, eez not ze young woman zat you knew in California all zose years ago. She has, how you say, _blossomed_. Steel, she has, eh — what you say — _doutes et craintes _— just like ze rest of us."

"Doubts and fears," said Jason, having seen Tommy's confused expression.

"_Oui_, exactly!" said Gaston, snapping his fingers. He then redirected his attention to Tommy. "As I said, she has zeez doubts and fears like all of us. _Mademoiselle_ Kimberly has confided in me very much since she was a girl, Tummy; zings…" he broke off, shaking his head, "Zings you know nothing of. Wezzer she admeets it or not, zo, she needs you, Tummy."

Tommy and Jason were so dumbfounded by what they had just heard that they did not even see Gaston walk away, far too busy staring at each other with expressions that did not do justice to the mixture of confusion and disbelief whirling through their heads.

"Dude, that butler is by far the creepiest guy that I have ever met," muttered Tommy pointedly. "And mind you, I spent the better part of four years talking to, and taking orders from, giant floating heads in turquoise-colored energy tubes. Fucking turquoise, bro, turquoise," he added with a shake of his head, as though saying the color three times proved just how lame of a color he thought turquoise was.

Jason laughed but did not reply. Silence lapsed until eventually Jason sighed, speaking carefully to avoid an argument. "Listen, Tommy, just talk to her, alright bro? Figure out what's going on, and if you don't like what you hear then just be done with it. But at least give her a chance to explain herself, man. I know I'd want the same courtesy if I was in her shoes, and I'm pretty sure that you would as well."

Closing his eyes, Tommy let out a deep breath and — much to Jason's surprise — slowly nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll go and talk to her in a little bit, see what's up."

"Good," said Jason, smirking.

"So what are we going to do today anyway?" asked Tommy.

Jason shrugged. "I don't know," he replied. "I'm going to go take a shower. I'm sure we'll think of something."

Tommy nodded as Jason disappeared into his bedroom. Twenty minutes later both were downstairs: cleaned, dressed, and waiting near the staircase for Kimberly. Soon they were seated on the bottom-most step, looking quite bored with elbows on knees and chins on fists.

"What's taking her so long?" said Jason, looking towards the dark hall for what had to be the tenth time.

"You know Kim," muttered Tommy, shaking his head. "Always takes her sweet time to get ready, even if it's at other people's expense."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Come on, Tommy; you're determined to keep finding reasons to be mad at her and nothing is ever going to get resolved that way. Being a dick is going to do nothing but make things even worse."

Tommy sighed, nodding his head once, but otherwise remained silent. Finally, after ten more minutes of waiting, Jason rose to his feet and said, "Alright, now _I'm_ starting to get irritated. I'm going to go and see what the hell is keeping her."

Chuckling, Tommy replied, "She probably just can't decide which shoes to wear. Be careful though, bro. She won't hesitate to throw a high heel through your forehead if you piss her off."

Jason gave a short laugh, said, "I'll keep that in mind," and made his way down the hall, to her closed bedroom door. He quietly pressed his ear against the door and gave a listen, his eyes growing wide when he heard what sounded like muffled sobs. "Kim?" he murmured, rapping lightly on the door. "Kim, it's me, are you in there?"

"Go away!" yelled Kimberly. "I'm not going!"

"Like hell you aren't," muttered Jason, beneath his breath. "Kim," he continued, his level of speech and strength of knock both more profound this time. "Listen, either you open this door or I'm kicking the goddamn thing down. I've got the money to have it repaired, too, so don't think I won't do it. One way or another you're coming out; it's just a matter of whether it's going to be by force or —"

The door was yanked open next moment. Kimberly's eyes were puffy, red, and she was hugging Caesar the Dragon tightly against her chest; she had obviously just forced herself to stop crying. "What do you want?" she demanded. "I'm sure Tommy's probably told you all about what happened last night. Here to tell me what an idiot I am? Rub a little salt in the wound?"

Jason shook his head. "No, you already know you're an idiot, so no sense rubbing salt in the wound," he replied. Kimberly glowered at him. "Look, Kim," he continued, pushing his way past her and into the room, closing the door behind himself, and then turning around to face her, "It's not going to make things better, you know, sitting in this room and feeling sorry for yourself because you got cold feet."

"Tommy told you then?" she questioned. Jason simply nodded. "He hates me, doesn't he?"

"Tommy?" he replied, Kimberly nodding. Jason laughed heartily, shaking his head as he went on, "Kim, the day Tommy hates you is the day I run around downtown Angel Grove in a skirt made from pink spandex. He's just confused, that's all; a bit hurt, too, I'd say, but really more confused than anything else. I have to be honest, though —"

"Big surprise," muttered Kimberly, Jason ignoring her completely.

"— I understand where he's coming from. You can't just come onto a guy like you did all day yesterday, and then at the last minute leave him hanging without so much as an explanation, especially not a guy like Tommy."

"What do you mean, 'a guy like Tommy?'" said Kimberly.

"Come on, Kim," said Jason impatiently. "We've known Tommy how long now; eleven, twelve years? The little things don't get to him, but something like this? You know damn well that it's eating him alive right now. I'm sure at this point, in the warped sense of thought that guy has, that he's already somehow convinced himself that what happened last night was his fault, just like he did with your guys' breakup. Don't you see, Kim, he's got you on such a pedestal that he's willing to shoulder the blame for something he didn't do, just so you don't have to."

"B-but —" stammered Kimberly, unsure what to say. "Why?"

Jason shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Beats the hell out of me," he answered distantly. "He's a better man than I am, though. If Katherine had done something like that to me —" He paused, a look of horror crossing his face as he realized what he had said.

"Wait, what?" said Kimberly. "What about Katherine?"

"Nothing," said Jason, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. Worry about the fact that Tommy's sitting out there alone right now, wondering what in the world he's done to deserve this and what he's got to do to make you see how much you really mean to him."

"I'll worry about Tommy when you tell me what's going on with Katherine," said Kimberly firmly.

"Kim, I just said don't worry —"

"Yeah, yeah, and Zordon always said not to use the Power for personal gain," interjected Kimberly, smiling, "But, let's be honest, we never would have had any fun if we had always listened to him, would we have? Come on, Jase," she continued softly, "We've been friends since kindergarten. After everything we've been through —"

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you," said Jason exasperatedly. It was clear there was going to be no arguing with Kimberly. "Just…just don't tell Tommy, alright. He doesn't know…"

Kimberly nodded. "What's going on?"

Jason sighed, taking a seat at the end of her bed. There were five different stuffed animals in a line behind Caesar the Dragon's currently unoccupied place; Jason picked up the red Tyrannosaurus Rex and held it tightly. When he finally spoke, it was more to the plush dinosaur than to Kimberly.

"We've been seeing each other off-and-on for awhile now, since shortly after the Halloween party," said Jason, speaking of the same event where Tommy and Kimberly had nearly slept together. "I guess it's been a few years now," he continued with a shrug. "Anyway, that's pretty much it."

"Are you guys together now?" asked Kimberly.

Again, Jason shrugged. "Don't know," he replied honestly, looking into her eyes to show he was telling the truth. "You'd have to ask her. We were together at Christmastime, before she left to teach at some ballet academy in London, and we were together in April when I visited her for her birthday, but we got into a pretty big argument at the end of my trip and haven't really spoken since then."

"That bad, huh?" murmured Kimberly sympathetically.

Jason nodded. "I think we're both ready for something more serious, but neither one of us is willing to give up the lives we've already worked so damn hard to build. Come to think of it, our situation is a lot like yours and Tommy's."

Kimberly narrowed her eyes. "What makes you think I want something serious with Tommy?"

With something of a scoffing chortle, Jason shook his head as he replied, "Come on, Kim, who do you think you're talking to; Special Ed? I may have been born at night, but it wasn't _last_ night. If you _didn't_ want something more serious with Tommy then nothing in the world would have stopped you from fucking him senseless last night, which obviously didn't happen."

Frowning, knowing she was beaten, Kimberly wracked her brain for something witty to say, but was interrupted before she could even form a single coherent thought. Tommy, it seemed, was none too happy with how long he had been sitting in the foyer:

"IF YOU GUYS DON'T HURRY UP, I'M TAKING ONE OF THE CARS AND DRIVING MYSELF AROUND PARIS TODAY!" Tommy paused for a few moments and then added, "OH, AND BY THE WAY, I'VE NEVER DRIVEN IN EUROPE BEFORE EITHER!"

Jason looked at the time on his cell phone and winced. "Damn, I didn't realize it was going to take this long," he muttered to himself. "We'll be right out!" he yelled to Tommy. "Now, in conclusion," he added, turning to Kimberly, "I don't think you'll have any problem calling a spade a spade with Tommy and moving on as far as last night goes. That being said, as we've just borne witness to, Tommy's not the type of person who's very happy sitting and waiting, but, for some reason, he's willing to do it for you.

"Still, I think he'd appreciate it a whole hell of a lot more if you were just honest and upfront with him from here on out. If you really don't want to go that far with him, tell him straight-up, let him go and I'll find a way to put the poor bastard out of his misery in Amsterdam. A good hallucinogen and a few hookers should do the trick. Or maybe just one hooker and a _great_ hallucinogen; cheaper and he'd still feel like it was multiple girls…"

Kimberly could not help but laugh at that, even as a horrifying image popped into her head. There was Tommy, lying naked in a bed with red satin sheets, drugged out of his mind while being ravaged by three equally nude women whom Kimberly imagined to be much more attractive than herself. Suddenly, her laughter stopped.

"Over my dead body," she muttered, jerking her head towards the door. "Come on," she said to Jason, "Let's go."

Jason grinned, nodding his agreement as he turned and followed Kimberly back into the hallway. Tommy was standing at the end of the hall, arms folded across his chest with a squeezed, red-faced expression that made him look as though he was trying to lay a rather large egg.

"You two…" muttered Tommy, seething. "First you…" he continued, pointing at Kimberly as he walked towards them, "Twenty damn minutes without a word…then you," he added, splitting his pointer and middle-fingers so that he was pointing at both Kimberly and Jason. And still he grew closer. "Thirty minutes I'm sitting out there…not even the courtesy of a text message…I could have been —"

Jason looked away, unable to hide his grin even though he could not bear the sight of them when Kimberly grabbed Tommy by the neck, yanked him down to her level, and literally forced him to make out with her right then and there. As soon as Tommy regained his senses, however, he immediately pulled away and put a quick five feet of space between him and Kimberly, the latter of whom did not seem phased even in the slightest. Alas, there seemed to be a newfound glimmer of intense determination in Kimberly's eyes that had not been there prior to her conversation with Jason.

"What are you doing?" said Tommy demandingly, even as he touched his fingertips to his tingling lips. "Last night — you can't just —" He shook his head, "— it's not right, Kim. I'm not some fucking toy that you can just pick up and play with whenever you decide you're feeling bored and need amusement, alright!"

"I know, Tommy," said Kimberly softly. She started to close the distance between them but Tommy glowered. Though she thought it was at her, his ire was actually being directed at Jason, who was hunched over behind Kimberly while pretending to vomit down the front of his red tee shirt. "Look," she continued from a distance, "I understand how you feel about last night. I was an idiot and you have every right to be mad at me. That being said, I really hope you aren't, or, if you are, that you can somehow find a way to forgive me, because I really do care a lot about you Tommy, and I honestly never meant to hurt you."

"Aw!" exclaimed Jason dreamily.

This time, Kimberly whirled around and threw an expression at Jason that, along with the one Tommy was simultaneously giving him, made Jason think that his best bet might be to start running as fast as he could in the other direction.

"Jason, I will put you in the Gogoplata right here if you don't shut the fuck up," said Tommy. "And you better believe that I'm not going to stop at purple this time, either."

"Ouch," muttered Jason. "Boom, pow, surprise," he added to himself, turning for the foyer.

Kimberly and Tommy shared a laugh.

"At least we know he means well," said Kimberly.

"Yeah," said Tommy, nodding.

Silence fell, but Kimberly was determined to avoid anything that even remotely resembled awkwardness. "So, like I was saying," she said hastily, "I really am sorry about last night. I feel terrible about it, you know."

"Why'd you do it, Kim?" said Tommy, determined that she would have to earn his forgiveness the same way he had been forced to earn hers. "What was the point of playing it up all day only to turn around and do what you did?"

Kimberly shrugged her shoulders, stuffing her hands into her short pockets and looking very much embarrassed as she did so. "The same reason you didn't want to at the Halloween party, I guess," she replied.

Tommy sighed. Jason and Gaston had both been right. How could he possibly fault her for having the same apprehensions that he himself had had just a few years back? Truthfully, he couldn't, not logically anyway. And logic, as it turned out, was something Tommy seemed to appreciate far more than Kimberly.

"So what is it exactly that you want from me, Kimberly?" said Tommy, still unwilling to give in just yet. "One minute you want me, the next you don't, then you do again…I'm starting to feel like a damn pinball."

"Oh, I want you, Tommy, probably more than you'll ever realize," said Kimberly, wearing a smile that disappeared as quickly as it arrived. "Still, we've both come a long way since we were teenagers and, yeah, the physical attraction is still there, but what if the rest isn't? Is it really worth risking our friendship on? We got it back once, but a second time? I don't know if we'll be that lucky again —"

"Kim," said Tommy, taking her hand gently, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles ever so softly, "The biggest risk in life isn't the one you take, it's the one you don't. Whatever happens…let it happen. I'm not saying we need to jump into a serious relationship right this second. That'd be freaking ludicrous. At the same time, I think we'd be cheating ourselves if we didn't at least see what was there."

Kimberly forced herself to meet Tommy's eyes, and suddenly she did not feel so nervous. "How do you suggest we do that, considering the fact that we're both leaving Paris in a few days for two completely different places?"

"I suggest we don't go to two completely different places," said Tommy casually.

"You mean —?" started Kimberly, shaking her head in confusion. "But Tommy, I-I can't —"

"Can't or won't?" questioned Tommy, in turn causing Kimberly to sigh. "Kim, yesterday morning you said that all it would take was a reason to stay. Well, I think I'm giving you a pretty damn good one."

"But what about Jason? This is supposed to be _your_ trip!" said Kimberly, quite seriously. She was rather sure that the last thing Jason wanted on his European vacation was to become the proverbial third wheel.

Tommy started to reply, on the verge of telling Kimberly that he did not care what Jason's opinion was, but then he appeared to think better of that idea. "I'll talk to Jason," he replied. "If he's cool with it, will you come?"

"I —" began Kimberly, trailing off and looking away.

Tommy wasted no time in taking her by the chin and forcing her eyes back to his. "Come on, Kim," he murmured lowly. "Stop looking for a reason to say no when there are a million reasons to say yes."

"A million, huh?" said Kimberly, smiling. "That's an awful lot, Tommy. Tell you what, if you can name one-tenth of them then I'll go with you guys."

Tommy glared. "Kim —"

"Alright, alright," said Kimberly, laughing. "If Jason is cool with it, I'll go. He really has to be okay with it, though. None of this, you backing him into a corner and forcing him to say yes crap, okay? I'm not going to put Jason out on his own damn trip."

Grinning fiercely, Tommy nodded and said, "Awesome." He then turned his head towards the foyer and yelled, "Hey, Jase!"

"Yo?" shouted Jason.

"You care if Kim comes with us the rest of the way?"

Jason did not immediately reply, though the sound of his footsteps grew louder quite rapidly, until he eventually emerged in the hallway once more. "Three rules: First —" he started, ticking off a finger, "no sex when Jason's in the room. Second —" he ticked another, "— no sex when Jason's outside the room. Third —" he added his ring finger, "— no sex when you think there's even a slight possibility that I maybe, just might possibly happen to be within relatively distant earshot of the room. Got it?"

"So, basically what you're saying is no sex then, am I right?" said Tommy, smirking.

"Oh, no, you two can fuck like jackrabbits for all I care," said Jason, shaking his head. "I just don't want to hear it."

Stepping up to Tommy's side, Kimberly wrapped her arms around Tommy's nearest arm. Looking down at her, Tommy said, "Sounds like we're going to be having very little sex then."

Kimberly grinned up at Tommy and, very simply, stated, "Oh, I'm sure we'll find a way."

--

That night saw Tommy, Jason and Kimberly joking and laughing as Kimberly navigated the streets of Paris in Pierre's Jeep Grand Cherokee. They had spent the whole day shopping for Kimberly, who needed to buy in one day the same things that Tommy and Jason had spent weeks gathering before departing from the United States. Luckily, shopping was still one of those things that Kimberly was exceptionally talented at.

Now they were currently en route to what was, without a doubt, the seediest part of town.

"Man!" exclaimed Tommy, for what had to be the tenth-time since Kimberly had told him, "I still can't believe Paris has a red-light district. That is so awesome!"

Kimberly just rolled her eyes while, from the backseat, Jason laughed. "Yeah, but it's even better 'cause we're going there!" he replied, as he and Tommy smacked hands.

"For the love of God, would you two knock it off already?" said Kimberly, laughing despite herself. Tommy and Jason had been going back and forth about the awesomeness of visiting the red-light district ever since they had learned that the _Moulin Rouge_ — their destination for the evening — was located in the district. "I swear; you guys are acting like you've never gotten laid before. It's like that one time you saw my boobs."

Tommy, who had never once seen Kimberly in anything less than a swimsuit, immediately swiveled his head to look at Jason. The face of Earth's first Red Ranger was as scarlet as the uniform that he had once worn so many years ago.

"You — you've seen —?" said Tommy, pointing an accusatory finger at Jason, who nodded sheepishly as Tommy redirected his attention to Kimberly. "We went out for damn near three years and the closest I ever got was a hug! How does he —?"

"It was an accident, bro," muttered Jason, refusing to look at Tommy, as though he had committed some grave betrayal by viewing that which Tommy had never seen. The expression Tommy wore told Jason that he needed to explain, so, with a sigh, Jason went on, "Zack and I went over to Kim's house one day to study for a test back in freshman year; it was before you ever even came around," he felt the need to add. "Anyway, when we got there, Kim's mom said she was upstairs and told us we could go get her. Zack had to go to the bathroom, though, so I went up alone. For some reason, I didn't think to knock and, well, Kim was, you know —"

"Half-naked and in the middle of changing when you barged into my room?" said Kimberly.

"Yeah, that," said Jason, nodding solemnly.

In the back of his mind, Tommy recalled the conversation he had had with Jason in Zurich a few days prior, when Jason had admitted his old feelings for Kimberly. Deep down, Tommy somehow knew that "for some reason" actually meant "intentionally by accident in the hopes of catching a peek." Part of Tommy's subconscious wanted to be furious over this, but, at the same time, he knew that he could not be mad at Jason for something that had happened well before he, Tommy, had even entered into the picture.

"It really wasn't that big of a deal," said Kimberly, who suddenly felt very bad at the reaction that she had elicited from Jason. She dare not mention Jason's _"physical reaction"_ to what he had seen, despite being quite sure it would have given Tommy a good laugh. "Besides, I've never really had much to show off in that area, anyway."

"I never got to see them," murmured Tommy sullenly.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" said Kimberly, as they pulled to a stop at a traffic light. "Do you really want to see them that bad?"

"_Pshh?_" replied Tommy, as though hers was the most asinine question that he had ever heard. "Does a bear shit in the woods? Fuck yes, I want to see them."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Fine, here," she said, pulling her top down and flashing Tommy for a good three seconds while Jason sat in the back with his hands buried in his face. "There, happy now?"

Tommy, who some thirty seconds later was still staring at the place where her breasts had just been, shook his head slowly and murmured distractedly, "I didn't really get a good look. I'm going to need to see them for at least another minute to give a proper evaluation."

"A proper evaluation?" said Kimberly, as she drove forward with the light's change. "I didn't realize my boobs were up for judgment here."

"Can we please just stop talking about Kimberly's boobs?" said Jason pleadingly. "You guys know I'm not a stickler when it comes to stuff like that, but really, guys, come on — it's getting to be a little much now, you know?"

Fortunately for Jason, there was not much time left for this topic of discussion. It was only a few minutes later when the sight of the glowing red windmill atop the _Moulin_ _Rouge_ became visible in the heart of the red-light district. They passed by adult theatres advertising their wide catalogs of films, everything from standard fare to the most bizarre of fetishes; sex shops with items in their windows that ranged from the slightly erotic to the incredibly wicked; and both strip-clubs and brothels with topless, thong-clad women dancing in glass displays like true living and breathing manikins.

"This is…quite possibly…" started Tommy breathlessly, "the greatest thing…that I have ever seen…in my entire life."

Kimberly laughed. "Trust me, Tommy, this place is nothing compared to what you're going to see in Amsterdam. Paris is like…suburban middle-America compared to that place."

"Really?" said Tommy, sounding even more intrigued as Kimberly nodded. "Don't play with my emotions here, Kim. You can't go telling a guy something like that if it's not true."

"It's true, bro," interjected Jason. "I spent a day in Amsterdam during the peace conference. As a hormonal sixteen year-old, just walking down the streets of the red-light district was enough to make me want to empty my entire life savings inside — literally heaven on earth, Tommy."

"Wow, talk about an over-exaggeration," said Kimberly, as she pulled into the first open spot she could find. It was roughly half of a mile's walk to the _Moulin Rouge_. "I mean, I guess it's cool if you're a perverted man, but —"

"Kim, the two are synonymous," said Tommy with a laugh, as they clambered out of the car and onto the sidewalk. "Every guy, no matter what his preference or persuasion, is genetically engineered at birth with some built-in level of perversion. The only thing that varies is how extreme that level of perversion actually gets."

"Looks like it got pretty far with you two," muttered Kimberly, as they started down the brightly illuminated street.

Kimberly gave them a brief rundown of the _Moulin Rouge _as they walked. It was a twelve decade-old cabaret, specializing in risqué burlesque shows with hints of song, theatre, and vibrant displays of magic. Their first impression upon walking in was that someone had implanted a circus inside an elegant restaurant, and then thrown a velvet-curtained stage into the mix for good measure.

As Tommy and Jason soon discovered, the show was more burlesque than anything else. They sat at a circular table near the stage, dining and drinking while watching the performance taking place just feet away from them.

As the level of sexiness increased with the progression of the show, Tommy found that Kimberly was slowly inching her chair around the table. Jason, who did not seem fazed at all, disappeared about fifteen minutes into the show; when Tommy eventually turned around, he found Jason immersed in laughing conversation with three attractive young women at a table in the back.

"And yet he won't do anything with any of them. Weird," murmured Tommy, more to himself than anyone else, as he shifted his attention back to the stage. Kimberly, who had not heard him, was now seated as close to him as she possibly could be without being in his lap. It did not take Tommy more than a few silent moments to notice this, his arm instinctively going around her shoulder as he drew her in close.

"What's his deal, anyway?" said Tommy, after nearly an hour of looking back and forth from Jason to the stage. "He could have slept with at least a dozen different girls since we've been in Europe, and I don't think he's even slept with one."

Kimberly shrugged. "Maybe he just wants the company," she lied, knowing full well why Jason never went home with any of the women he had met so far.

"Yeah, maybe," said Tommy distantly, though he did not believe Kimberly's reasoning in the slightest. While he knew that it would not be tonight, Tommy was now determined to find out why Jason had remained abstinent for seemingly no reason at all.

Kimberly, however, who was intent on proving how sorry she was for the previous night, focused her full attention on doing just that. When Tommy was left open-mouthed and staring at the women on stage, all of whom were currently doing the splits, Kimberly brought her lips to his ear, her fingers dancing up and down his chest as she whispered, "They're not the only ones who can do the splits, you know."

Tommy smiled widely as he looked towards Kimberly and, with a wink, replied, "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Oh, you'll see it," said Kimberly. Feeling quite brave, she gave Tommy's ear a bit of a nibble; her bravery was soon mixed with great satisfaction at the quiet moan that escaped Tommy's lips. "I had a feeling you'd like that."

"Kim?" said Tommy.

"Hmm?" she replied.

"I don't want to wait until later."

Kimberly narrowed her eyes. Then, as realization set in, a sly grin crossed her lips. "Here," she said quietly, retrieving her keys from her purse and handing them over to Tommy. "I'm leaving in five minutes; leave the door unlocked."

Tommy did not hesitate to take the keys discreetly, rise to his feet, and start towards the door; nor did he even think for a second about verifying whether or not she was being serious. After what had happened the night before, Tommy was confident that Kimberly would not leave him hanging once more.

Still, as he sat in the backseat of the Grand Cherokee a short while later, he could not help but to be surprised when he saw her walking down the street. There was something about the faint red glow from all the shops — not to mention the stagnant and glowing windmill in the distance — that made her seem even more beautiful than usual. It didn't hurt matters either, Tommy mused to himself, that she was wearing yet another of her sexy outfits. Pink, low-cut halter-top, black miniskirt, and high-heels that wrapped up her legs — Tommy had to consciously remind himself not to drool as she approached.

Tommy was no novice when it came to sex, nor when it came to sex with beautiful women: his college years had been perpetuated with a slew of one-night encounters once he had realized that damn near every girl he came in contact with found him to be a physical gift from the gods; still, his heartbeat grew more and more rapid with each step that Kimberly took closer to the car, until he could literally feel it pounding thunderously against his chest.

When the door adjacent him slowly clicked open he caught a lump in his throat, feeling for a brief moment as though me might lose it right then and there. Then he remembered what was at stake, swallowed the lump in his throat, and was all smiles — the very epitome of calm, cool, and collected — by the time Kimberly had began climbing into the car.

"Hey —" started Tommy, but as soon as the door clicked shut she was all over him. Their lips met in a heated lock, tongues searching their companions out as Kimberly maneuvered herself onto Tommy's lap. For the first time in his life, Tommy let his hands roam freely, exploring Kimberly's body as he had longed to do for so very long now.

She moaned against his mouth when his hands moved to her breasts, gently kneading her ever-sensitive nipples through the thin layer of cotton that covered them. She tore her lips away just long enough to smile and say, "Mmm…someone's got wandering hands," and then returned to their heated make-out session.

It did not take long for Kimberly to feel Tommy's hardness pressing against her. They had reached the point of no return; there was no going back now.

Grinding against him as they kissed, Kimberly removed her arms from around Tommy's neck and lifted them above her head in a silent signal that even the most oblivious of men could understand. Her shirt was off in a flash, but then everything came to a screeching halt.

Kimberly allowed him twenty seconds to stare. Still, he could not look away. Letting out a short laugh, Kimberly slapped his arm and said, "Focus, Tommy, focus."

"Right," said Tommy, shaking his head clear. "They're just so —"

"Stop talking about them and make yourself useful," said Kimberly, kissing him again.

With one arm holding her at the waist, Tommy broke the kiss and moved to her neck, tracing slow kisses that moved downward by the inch as he used his free hand to unbutton his shorts. He was strong enough to lift her with just the one arm, using the backrest of the seat to push himself up long enough to yank his shorts and boxers down to his ankles.

"That's more like it," murmured Kimberly. The pleasured, erotic sound that escaped her when Tommy's lips found her left nipple was enough to make him throb; he had her right where he wanted her, yet he was still so very much at her mercy.

Tommy's free hand then found the waistline of her panties; with a quick lift and tug, he had them at her ankles. Kimberly's hands went to the zipper at the back of her skirt, but Tommy quickly seized her wrists and said, "Fuck the skirt" as he moved his mouth to her other breast.

"Do you have a —?"

Tommy shook his head. "Are you on the —?"

"Yeah," said Kimberly, nodding, "But still…"

"I don't _actually _have herpes, if that's what you're worried about," said Tommy deadpan.

Somehow, the fact that he had actually said that while on the verge of having sex was enough to put her at ease with a quiet laugh. Reaching down slowly, she took hold of him and, with a few wickedly elongated strokes, whispered in his ear, "I want you to fuck my brains out, Tommy."

"Such a dirty girl," murmured Tommy, capturing her lips once more as she took aim at her already-dripping sex.

There was a simultaneous gasp when his cock slipped inside her warm, moistened depths. Kimberly let out a whimper next moment, her arms wrapped tightly around Tommy's neck, their foreheads pressed together while their mouths hovered just inches away from one another. For a few silent heartbeats neither moved a single inch; then, suddenly, a wide grin formed on Kimberly's face.

"Perfect," she purred against his lips.

As she began a slow, rhythmic rotation of her hips, Tommy immediately lost all sense of what was real and what was not. That this was really and truly happening — more than once the possibility that it could all just be a dream popped into his head, but those thoughts were always discarded quickly whenever he moved his lips to a new, unexplored patch of skin.

No dream tasted that good.

"Fuck me, Tommy," she murmured, grinding wickedly against his cock.

"I've waited a long time for this," said Tommy as his hands found her waist, steadying her for what he planned on making the best ride of her life.

"It's yours now."

That was all Tommy needed to hear. As he began thrusting inside her, his strokes growing deeper and quicker by the moment, Kimberly threw her head back and gave him access to her neck. Tommy attacked the nape of her neck hungrily, fully intent on leaving a mark that he could identify as his.

"So good…" Kimberly panted, holding onto Tommy's neck for dear life, slamming her hips down to meet his powerful thrusts. "So…fucking…good; never had anything this…FUCK!"

Something profoundly masculine roared soundly in Tommy's chest as he listened to her soft whimpers, her whispers in his ear that his cock felt so perfect inside her, Tommy remaining silent sans the grunts that escaped him every so often. Truthfully, he did not speak only because he knew that coherent thought was simply not something that he could manage successfully at this point in time: Better to remain silent and appear ignorant, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

And on she rode…

"Harder, Tommy," she gasped. "Fuck…me…harder," she continued, through gritted teeth, kissing him passionately for a few moments. "I'm…almost…there."

Tommy groaned as he felt the muscles of her sex clamp even tighter around his throbbing cock. He quickly moved one of his hands down and, with precision, found her clit. He had barely touched her when she suddenly cried out in a wave of euphoria, announcing to anyone within earshot of the car that she was coming.

The sound and feel of her orgasm as it took control was enough to send Tommy to the breaking point as well. With her face buried against his neck Kimberly felt him grow even harder, Tommy holding onto her with every ounce of strength he could muster as his own orgasm flooded through him and into her.

The way she moaned so sweetly through her orgasm, the way her body shuddered — as he drifted slowly from nirvana back into the blurred realm of semi-conscious thought, Tommy was beyond certain that taking this great leap had not been a mistake at all. In fact, he mused silently that it was one of the best decisions that he had ever made.

He only hoped that Kimberly felt the same way.


	6. Belgian Breakdown

_**Title: Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter Six — Belgian Breakdown**_

_**Original Posting Date: August 24, 2009**_

--

They were holding onto each other tightly, their bodies still heaving rapidly when, from seemingly out of nowhere, music started to play.

'_Cause I am, whatever you say I am_

_If I wasn't, then why would I say I am?_

_In the paper, the news, every day I am…_

"Where is that coming from?" murmured Kimberly, slightly breathlessly.

Tommy looked to the floor behind the front passenger seat, where his shorts had been discarded haphazardly just minutes before. Keeping one arm locked around Kimberly's waist, he carefully reached down and extracted his cell phone from one of the pockets. "It's Jason," he said softly, holding a finger to his lips as he answered, "What's up, bro?"

"Where in the hell are you guys? I've been looking around this place for, like, twenty minutes!" exclaimed Jason, sounding a bit perturbed.

"I, uh, I just went outside for a minute to get some fresh air and, uh, let's just say I ended up _exploring_ a bit," said Tommy, half-truthfully, knowing Jason would take it to mean that he, Tommy, had gone off to peruse the finer points of the red light district and not those of Kimberly's body.

"What about Kim?" Jason asked. "Is she with you?"

"Kim?" said Tommy, looking down at her. It was at that moment, as though the sound of her name on his lips had some great control over her, that Kimberly smiled and started kissing his chest. Tommy grinned, careful not to expose what was happening as he calmly went on, "Uh, yeah, she's around here somewhere. I'm not sure, though. I'll call her. Is the show over?"

"Yeah, you missed an awesome grand finale, bro," said Jason, with a laugh. "One of the dancers had quite the wardrobe malfunction, if you catch my drift."

Under any other circumstance, Tommy would have been regretful over the missed exchange, but it was hard to be disappointed over a briefly-exposed breast when he had a beautiful, naked woman sitting on his lap; a beautiful, naked woman who was now moving her kisses to his neck.

He stifled a moan, feigning disappointment to Jason as he replied, "Damn, man, that's definitely a bummer. Anyway, I'll call Kim and hunt her down, and then we'll meet up with you back at the car, alright?"

"Yeah, for sure," said Jason. "See you in a few."

"Yep," said Tommy, ending the call. Despite the undeniable sense of pleasure coursing through his body and the physical toll it was taking on him as Kimberly feasted on his extremely sensitive neck, Tommy forced himself to gently push her back and say, "Good as that feels, Kim, Jason's on his way here right now, and I really don't want to be naked in the backseat when he shows up."

"Would you rather be naked in the front seat?" asked Kimberly, with a smiling wink.

"I'd rather be naked back in your room where we don't have to worry about someone catching us," said Tommy, allowing his fingertips to dance lightly along her waist, unable to contain his urge to touch her. She had cried out his name multiple times in the throes of orgasm, and in that one moment, Tommy had known that he would never gaze upon another woman the same way he did with Kimberly.

"You were right, you know," said Kimberly, slowly maneuvering herself into other seat. At Tommy's slight look of confusion, she went on, "About Katherine, I mean. I'm definitely going to have to send her a thank you card, chocolate, and flowers after that."

Tommy laughed as Kimberly handed him his boxer shorts. "Glad to know you enjoyed it as much as I did," he said, smiling her way.

Kimberly smiled back and they proceeded to get dressed in silence. They were standing near the front of the car a few minutes later, leaning against it and chatting casually when Tommy noticed Jason approaching from a block or so away.

"You don't think he'll be able to, like, _smell_ it or anything, do you?" asked Tommy hesitantly.

Kimberly, fighting off the urge to laugh, shook her head. "I opened the windows and squirted some body-spray back there a few times," she answered. "He'd have to be a trained German shepherd to smell anything besides the Paris air and a hint of vanilla."

Tommy nodded and stuffed his hands into his pockets. There was a slight chill in the air now; both Tommy and Kimberly looked as though they wanted nothing more than a sweater, considering their preferred form of bodily warmth was unattainable at the moment. Still, they stood as close to each other as was possible without giving any indication of what had just happened. Smells Jason might not have been able to decipher, but he was damn good at reading body language.

Even so, there was an expression of longing in Kimberly's eyes as she looked up at the side of Tommy's face, and as a gust of cold wind met her skin, she shivered. Without thought or hesitation, Tommy draped his arm around Kimberly's shoulder and spun her around so that they stood face-to-face. Instinct brought about their warm embrace, Kimberly laying her head at an angle against Tommy's chest while he rested his chin atop her head.

Luckily, Tommy could not see the look on her face. She seemed so peaceful, so at ease in his arms; the last thing Kimberly wanted him to know, especially after just two days around each other, was the profound effect that he had on her — had always had on her, if she was being honest with herself.

As Jason approached, there was no hiding the smile he wore at the sight of Tommy and Kimberly. Though he had wanted nothing more than to be in Tommy's shoes when they had been teenagers, he had also long since recognized that no other man or woman had ever made the pair as happy as they were when they were with each other. It had come down to a choice, really: fight it and likely lose two friends in the process, or support whatever endeavors they chose to pursue with one another.

The choice had not been difficult.

"Exploring the red light district, eh?" said Jason, winking towards Tommy, his tone as disbelieving as his expression.

"Yeah; you know," said Tommy, shrugging, revealing nothing. "Kim was right, though. It's not nearly as big a deal as we made it out to be."

Jason eyed Tommy suspiciously but did not press the issue any further. There was no sense in doing so when the answers to any questions he would have asked were already etched into Tommy's face; Kimberly's too, when she finally turned to face Jason.

"Enjoy the show?" said Kimberly, half-smiling.

"Not anywhere near as much as I'm sure you guys did," countered Jason, with a grin that far surpassed Kimberly's. "It was alright, though. Thanks for the tickets, by the way."

Kimberly nodded and replied, "No problem; glad to do it."

"So what happened to those girls that you were talking to?" said Tommy. "None of them wanted to go home with the Herpes Ranger?"

Jason laughed, refusing to meet Kimberly's eyes. "Nah, I just wasn't feeling it," said Jason, shrugging, as truthful as Tommy was in regards to his _exploration_. "You guys ready to head back to the house?" he questioned, intentionally directing the attention away from his apparent lack of a sex life.

"Yeah, we can go," answered Kimberly. Dipping into her purse, she retrieved the car keys and dangled them expectantly towards Jason, who took them with a look that was knowing, yet equally dismayed.

Sleep did not come easy for Jason that night. As he lay in bed at two o'clock in the morning, wide awake with his hands folded behind his head, Jason's eyes remained focused on the ceiling while trying desperately not to think about what was going on in Kimberly's bedroom.

He had padded downstairs for a drink of water some twenty minutes prior and ended up catching a distant earful confirming that which he had already thought to be true. There was no denying the jealousy in Jason's eyes, though this jealousy had very little to do with Tommy and Kimberly, and much more to do with Katherine and himself.

Good looking, financially secure, intelligent, and witty…Jason could have slept with damn near every single woman that he had met in Europe in the last week-plus, yet he had chosen to remain celibate. Until this moment he had neither wondered nor cared if Katherine had done the same; now, however, the mere thought of her with another man was enough to make Jason's heart thump nervously against his chest.

In a flash he reached over to the adjacent nightstand and, as soon as he had his cell phone in hand, began typing a text message. "I miss you", was all it said. Knowing that she was likely to be asleep at this hour, he sent the message to Katherine and returned his phone to the nightstand; he then rolled back over, resolved to the notion that he would have to at least wait until much later that morning to read her reply. Then, in a single moment's time, he remembered something in the back of his mind that made him doubt whether he would receive a reply at all.

That his cell phone started buzzing loudly just over a minute later was cause for much debate in the depths of Jason's mind. A very large part of his psyche was convinced that he was merely hearing things, imagining that it was his cell phone when it was really just the hum of the spinning ceiling fan. Why would she have replied now, when she had spent the weeks following their argument ducking every single call, text message, and e-mail that he had sent her?

Still, he had to check…

And it was there.

"Miss you too," it read, with a sad face made from an assortment of punctuation marks. "We need to talk. I'll call you in a couple days, k?"

Jason furrowed his brow. "Why a couple days?" he typed back.

Katherine did not reply, though, which to Jason said more than anything that she could have typed in a text message. She had her reasons, reasons that she obviously did not want to share right now; if Jason had learned anything from their blowout it was not to push Katherine when she obviously did not want to talk about something.

Though slightly disappointed that he could not hear her voice right then and there, Jason felt exponentially better as he re-deposited his cell phone on the nightstand. Katherine missed him and she wanted to talk; he could not recall a single time in recent memory where he had received such excellent news as this.

Flipping over onto his side, he now found no trouble at all falling right to sleep. He dreamed peacefully the whole night, always of Katherine, the image of whom kept him smiling from the time he fell asleep to the time he woke seven hours later. As he clambered out of bed and padded towards the adjoining bathroom, he could not help but to feel like everything was finally starting to turn around for him where she was concerned.

Maybe, just maybe, if everything went well during their impending conversation, he could convince Tommy and Kimberly to cross the English Channel…

It was only thirty or so minutes later when Jason made his way down the large staircase, through the hallway and into the dining room to find Tommy and Kimberly sitting side-by-side at the table, engaged in conversation with Caroline. Tommy, as Jason soon noticed, had his hand hidden on the small of Kimberly's back; he was still as protective of her as ever.

"Morning, Sunshine," chuckled Tommy as Jason approached the table. Being that the Dumas' chef only prepared their evening meal, Caroline had once again taken it upon herself to prepare breakfast. This time it was waffles the size of small hubcaps; fried potatoes with diced peppers, onions, and grilled sausage; and buttered toast with three different choices of marmalade.

"Morning," said Jason, nodding towards Tommy and Kimberly. Wiping the last bit of sleep from his eyes, he took a look at the breakfast spread, turned to Caroline, and exclaimed, "Wow, this looks amazing! Thanks, Caroline."

The elder Hart flushed pink ever so slightly as she replied, "You're very welcome, Jason. Have a seat, won't you, sweetie? I was just asking Tommy what your plans were once you leave Paris."

Jason took a chair across from Tommy and Kimberly, and as he began serving himself, he said, "Well, I'm not quite sure what the plan is, to be honest. We haven't really had a chance to talk about it since we got here. What do you think?" he added, to Tommy and Kimberly.

Kimberly waved her hands dramatically and said something that sounded like "uhn-uh", before continuing, "Where we go next is between you and Tommy. I already feel bad enough coming along midway through the trip; I'm not getting involved in this one."

Grinning, Jason looked to Tommy and said, "Well?"

Tommy shrugged. "Got a map?" he replied.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Belgium and the Netherlands are to the north, Germany's east."

"Amsterdam is in the Netherlands, right?" said Tommy, Jason nodding. "Let's head north then."

"Amsterdam?" said an astonished Caroline. "Why in the world would you want to go to Amsterdam? There's nothing there but drugs and sex and —"

"_Mom,_" groaned Kimberly, shooting her mother a look.

Caroline pursed her lips. "Oh, alright," she said in defeat. "You're all adults now. There's no sense trying to stop you."

"We'll keep Kim safe, Caroline, I promise," said Tommy reassuringly, winking down at Kimberly as Caroline's demeanor seemed to relax.

"You were always good at that, Tommy," said Caroline, smiling.

Kimberly beamed towards Tommy, giving his knee a squeeze beneath the table. "He was, wasn't he?"

"Still am," murmured Tommy, so that only Kimberly could hear.

"So, what do you think?" said Jason. "Should we stay here one more night and then head out tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that's fine," said Tommy, nodding. "What are we going to do today?"

Much to Tommy's dismay, both Kimberly and Jason wanted to visit the Louvre. Self-admittedly, Kimberly had already been to the famous museum multiple times, and why she wanted to go again he did not know, but the simple fact of the matter was that he had been outnumbered. He was left pleasantly surprised, however, when, upon navigating the spacious building, he discovered that the museum was not nearly as boring as he had thought it would be, especially for someone who did not find art to be all that interesting.

There were pieces from many different eras and nations, from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to the more modern French, Spanish, and Italian. They spent most of the day at the famous museum; after a quiet supper with Caroline and Pierre, and with a very early start looming the next morning, they decided to turn in for the evening.

--

If not for the excellent food, Belgium would have been a rather worthless stop. They arrived in Brussels around mid-morning the following day, and by five o'clock that evening, all three were ready to move on. Amsterdam was just a short train ride from Brussels, and what awaited them in the Netherlands sounded much more interesting — especially to Tommy — than walking through yet another museum.

When darkness had rolled around, however, the mood changed dramatically. The Grand Palace was one of the most magnificent structures any of them had ever seen before, even more so by night when the entire structure was illuminated with vibrantly bright light. The inside was closed to tourism at this late hour, but that had not stopped them from walking the two miles from their hostel to get a closer look.

As they walked through the spacious courtyard, gazing upon the castle that had been built over multiple centuries, Tommy found it much harder to concentrate on the palace when all he could do was look at Kimberly. She and Jason were debating fiercely about the different styles in which the castle had been built: Kimberly argued that the ostensibly clashing combination of Baroque, Gothic, and Louis XIV styles gave the Grand Palace an air of attractive imperfection; Jason found it to be incredibly lazy and, while undoubtedly a gorgeous structure, he had seemingly made it his mission to reinforce his views of the castle over the past hour or so.

Normally, Tommy would have been bored out of his mind listening to them go at it, but as he had learned to do a long time ago, he simply turned off their volume in his head and allowed himself to be captivated by Kimberly's presence and the way the soft yellow light from the surrounding, looming palace washed over her.

Though he did not mean to, Tommy could not help the murmured, "Beautiful" that escaped him a moment later. Jason, who was on the other side of Kimberly, had never seen her smile bigger. She did not give any recognition to Tommy that she had heard — which he was ever thankful for, albeit ignorantly — but in the back of her head, she imagined several different ways she could show him her appreciation later that night.

"I'm telling you, Kim, it's sloppy," said Jason indignantly, snapping a still-smiling Kimberly from her dazed state. "You can't just go around mixing all these different styles. It's like," he paused, thinking for a brief moment, "It's like a Monet. Yeah, it's gorgeous by itself, but would it still be if you cut it in half and mixed it with a Picasso? I don't think so."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "You're comparing apples and oranges here, Jason. Your logic makes no sense whatsoever. Architectural styles and painting styles are two entirely different things. Yeah, the different styles here clash a bit, but still…it shows the history of the place without even having to step inside. It's nothing like slamming together a Monet and a Picasso. Pierre would have your head on the mantle over the fireplace with the rest of the wild animals he's killed if he heard you say that."

"Am I the only one who finds that weird?" said Tommy, raising his hand. This was the first time since shortly after they had reached the palace that the conversation actually interested him.

"What's that?" said Jason, his eyebrow raised curiously.

"The fact that Pierre has something like seven different dead animal heads hanging in the living room, all of which he, himself — a massively successful _painter _— killed personally," answered Tommy, shuddering. "The bear head is creepy enough, but did anyone see that freaking deer? I swear to God, it was like staring into the eyes of Bambi's mom right before she got shot."

Kimberly laughed. "I don't think it's weird that he's a painter and likes to hunt, but I _have_ to agree with you on the deer thing. Those eyes just look so sad, like she knew what was about to happen a second before it did. I begged Pierre to take it down when I got here, at least until I left, but that stupid deer is, like, his most prized possession in the world. You know, now that I think of it like that, his fascination with hunting _is_ pretty weird."

"Your step-dad's a certifiable nut-job," said Tommy, grinning, neither he nor Kimberly aware that Jason had just started to drift away with his cell phone in hand.

Had it been any other guy except Tommy, Kimberly would have been furious. Even though Pierre was not her paternal father, he was still family in her eyes and she always treated and defended him as such. However, instead of reacting in anger as would have normally been the case, Tommy's comment only made her laugh harder, a laugh so infectiously giddy and sweet that it did not take long for Tommy to succumb as well.

Soon they were laughing so hard that their only way to stay standing was to hold onto each other for support. Why they were in such hysterics neither could explain, for Tommy's comment had certainly not been _that _funny, but it continued on for quite some time. When their laughter finally started to subside, Kimberly clutching at her side and gasping to catch her breath, she looked up at Tommy from her doubled-over position to find that he was staring right back at her, wearing a smile that could only be described as utterly infatuated.

"What?" said Kimberly, her cheeks flushing pink as she stood up straight.

"Nothing," said Tommy, through his smile. "It's just…I forgot how much I love hearing your laugh. Somehow, regardless of how messed up my life was at the time, all I had to do was hear your laugh and I knew that none of that other crap mattered."

Kimberly grinned. Not really knowing what to say, she decided to allow her actions to speak for her. She stepped close to Tommy's side and wrapped her arms around his waist, simultaneously fiddling inside her handbag — the cheapest and smallest she owned, for obvious reasons — for her digital camera as Tommy's own arm went to her far shoulder.

"C'mere you," said Kimberly, once she had found her camera. She took Tommy by the neck of his hooded Dodgers sweatshirt, pulled him down, and kissed him full, capturing their kiss in front of the elegantly lit palace with a click and a flash.

The kiss, however, did not end once the photograph had been taken. For a brief moment, Kimberly thought about taking another picture, but those thoughts were quickly banished by the profound urge to simply melt into his arms and never let go. In the end, of course, she had to let go, but it was certainly not by choice.

"Best…kisser…ever," declared Kimberly slightly breathlessly as she smiled.

Tommy smirked. "You're not so bad yourself."

Before Kimberly could reply, though, Jason had appeared at their side with a hand on each of their nearest shoulders as he said, "So what'd I miss? You two sneak in a little quickie while I was gone?"

Kimberly sneered at Jason. "Someone's just jealous that they're not getting any."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Kimberly instantly regretted having ever said them. From the twisted expression on Jason's face, he too was having trouble stomaching what she had just said. Tommy, who was looking between both of them, just seemed confused.

"Don't even go there, Kim," muttered Jason, his eyes angry.

"Jason, I'm so sorry —"

"What the hell is going on?" interrupted Tommy.

Instantly, Jason and Kimberly swiveled their heads towards Tommy, glaring at him with equally red faces. "Nothing!" they yelled in unison.

Wincing, Tommy watched from a few feet away as Jason and Kimberly started whispering back and forth between each other. Jason appeared angry, while Kimberly looked like she was on the verge of tears. Tommy tried his hardest to hear what was being said, but they were speaking much too quietly and the crowd's bustle was far too noisy for him to catch more than a few random words and phrases here and there.

Tommy let them go on like this for nearly three minutes, but when it showed no signs of letting up he decided to try again. "Will someone _please_ tell me what is going on?"

"No!" said Kimberly, glowering.

Jason, however, simply stared at Kimberly for close to another full minute. Now she, like Tommy, appeared exceptionally confused. Then Jason sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in a way that told Tommy just how nervous Jason truly was — Tommy knew this because he too often reacted the same way in similar situations.

"You're right, Kim," murmured Jason, shaking his head. "You're absolutely right. Tommy has every right to know."

"What do I have —?" started Tommy.

"Katherine and I are seeing each other, bro, have been since the Halloween party," said Jason, bracing himself for Tommy's blow-up, an explosion that surprisingly never came. Instead of the anger Jason had expected, Tommy's expression was one of deep thought. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, man, I just —"

"You break her heart and I'll break your neck," said Tommy, glaring at Jason in a way that said his words were not to be taken lightly. "Other than that, you have my blessing, not that you need it, but still…."

Smiling, Jason nodded and said, "Thanks, man, I appreciate that a lot. And trust me; I have no intention of breaking her heart."

"Do you love her?" said Tommy. Though he and Katherine had not been together in the romantic sense since shortly after their sophomore year of college, Tommy was still fiercely protective of her, she who had so patiently helped to mend the broken heart that the woman on his right had left him with.

"Yeah, man," said Jason, nodding once more, "I do. She means the world to me."

Tommy seemed to mull that over for a few silent moments before replying, "Kat deserves the best."

"I agree com —"

"And since she can't have _me_," continued Tommy, smirking at Jason as he pulled Kimberly in close against his side, "I'd rather have it be you than some other random dude. I take it you guys are pretty serious?"

Jason shrugged. "I thought we were. It's kind of a long story."

"It's a long walk back to the hostel," said Tommy, and with that they started walking.

As Jason began to tell his story — that which he had already told Kimberly — Tommy's eyes fluttered down to the much smaller hand swaying so very close to his own, as though asking him to take it. Should he? Did Kimberly really want him to, or was he just reading too far into things? What if she didn't want him to?

Impulse caused him to reach out and take her hand, Tommy flashing a smile at her when she quickly looked his way, seemingly caught off guard. Nevertheless, as Jason continued his story, Kimberly smiled back and gave Tommy's hand a gentle squeeze. By the time they had reached the now-closed ice cream parlor that stood as the rough halfway point between the Grand Palace and their hostel, Tommy had a firm grasp on where it was that Jason and Katherine stood.

Tommy, like Jason, could not help but see the obvious similarities between himself and Kimberly in comparison to Jason and Katherine.

"Just take care of her, man, that's all I ask," said Tommy, as their hostel became visible in the distance. "Kat's a great girl and she deserves someone who's going to treat her that way."

"Sounds like someone's still got a thing for _another_ ex-girlfriend," said Kimberly teasingly.

"Hardly," scoffed Tommy, grinning towards Jason to show that he was being truthful. "Like I said, Kat's a great girl; I love her to death, but it'll never be more than friendship between us. We reached that conclusion a long, _long_ time ago."

"Good," said Jason and Kimberly at the same time. Unintentional though it was, and for entirely different reasons at that, the pair shared a very brief knowing, smiling look.

"So, breakfast here in the morning, and then hop the train to Amsterdam?" said Tommy, who could not help smiling at the thought of being in what was quite possibly the most notorious city in the world.

As they approached their hostel — a wide, two-story building — Jason nodded and said, "Yeah, that'll work. We need to find a chocolate shop before we leave, though. No one makes chocolate like the Belgians."

"Oh, I second that and a third," said Kimberly, briefly releasing her hold on Tommy's hand in order to raise both of hers. "I'm going to stock up big time."

Tommy looked down at her and smiled. It was for no reason in particular, he just found it incredibly hard not to smile when he was in her presence. No one had ever captivated him the way that Kimberly did.

It was not long after that when they entered the hostel. Kimberly had rented a private room separate from Tommy and Jason, and upon reaching their rooms, they bade each other good night and disappeared inside. Midnight struck just as Tommy and Jason were climbing into bed.

Though they could not see each other in the dark, Tommy sat up in his bed and fixed his eyes on where he assumed Jason to be. "I think I love her, bro," murmured Tommy. Even as the words left him he tried to pull them back.

Jason chuckled. "Welcome to my world, T," he replied, folding his arms behind his head. Then a distant thought crept into the forefront of his mind, one that he had been ignoring for quite some time. Now that the proverbial cat was out of the bag, however, he felt no qualms in saying, "Can I ask you something, bro?"

"Yeah, for sure, man," said Tommy without hesitation.

"Have you ever —?" Jason started. He trailed off for a moment, gathering both his thoughts and his composure before continuing, "Have you ever thought about just giving it all up? Like, if you were in a position to choose between your career and Kimberly, what would you choose?"

"Wow," murmured Tommy, shaking his head in the dark. "That's pretty deep, bro. I mean, I've thought about it a few times, especially after the Halloween party and all that, but I've never really come up with a firm answer. What about you?"

It took a bit of time for Jason to come up with his answer, but when it came to him, he spoke it firmly. "If you would have asked me that a few months ago, my answer would have been no; I wouldn't have even thought about it. Now, though…I don't really know, man. I've got such conflicting feelings; you know what I'm saying? Part of me feels like it'd be worth it to move to London and start over because, honestly, I've never been with any other woman who makes me feel like Katherine does.

"At the same time, I've busted my ass for years to get to the point I'm at. Financially, I'm secure; I've got a job that doesn't make me hate waking up in the morning; overall, I couldn't ask for more than what I have right now. I'm blessed and I remind myself of that every single day. How many people do you know that can say they were able to relieve their parents of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt?"

"Besides me and Kim, not many," said Tommy. "You're right, though; we're definitely the lucky ones. Adam's been running his karate school for six years now and he's still waist-deep in student and start-up loans; same with Rocky. Still, I know exactly what you're saying: it's hard to give up everything you've worked to build."

"Yeah, for sure," said Jason distantly. "What would you do?"

Tommy sighed audibly. "If I was in your shoes, you mean?"

"Yeah," said Jason.

"I guess…I guess I would really have to sit down and evaluate what my choices are and the effects they would have," answered Tommy. The last thing he wanted to do was put words in Jason's mouth. "That's not the answer you wanted to hear, though, is it?"

"No, not really," said Jason with an awkward laugh.

"Yeah, I figured as much," said Tommy, laughing as well. "I wish I could tell you what to do, bro, but I'm the last person you want advice from in this situation. I'm stuck in the same situation you are, my friend. I'd do just about anything if I thought it would make Kim happy, but leaving Reefside…I can't imagine packing up everything and moving to Miami, especially not with everything I have in my basement."

Jason chuckled at that. "Yeah, I'm sure thirteen years of history would be pretty hard to move, huh?"

"You have no idea, Jase," said Tommy, shaking his head. "I've got more boxes down there than even want to _think_ about counting."

Silence lapsed at that point. Tommy, who was steadfastly refusing to advise Jason in this situation — in fear of giving bad, relationship-ending advice — simply sat against the wall and waited, for he knew it would not be too long before Jason spoke again.

"If everything goes well with me and Kat when she calls, I want to go to England at the end of the trip," declared Jason matter-of-factly. "You okay with that?"

"England?"

"Yeah," said Jason, "England."

"They speak English there, right?" said Tommy, his voice thick with faux confusion.

Jason stammered nonsensically for a moment. "You…are you —?"

"I'm kidding, bro," said Tommy, laughing. "God, how dumb do you think I am?"

Jason sighed thankfully. "So, yeah, I want to go to England. You cool with that?"

"Yeah, man, of course," said Tommy, who would have agreed even if he hadn't felt like he owed Jason one. After all, had it not been for Jason, Tommy would have never known that he had been in the same city with the woman whose face was currently at the forefront of his mind.

"Cool, man, thanks," said Jason, just before letting out a heavy yawn. "Alright, I'm done: Night, bro."

"Night," said Tommy, with no intention of actually going to sleep. He plugged in one of his iPod ear buds and turned the volume down low, still able to hear Jason while listening to an old Dr. Dre song. It took less than five minute's time for the sound of Jason's furniture-displacing snores to fill the room, causing Tommy to groan under his breath as he squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to block the sound. Alas, it was no use.

Certain that Jason was fast asleep, Tommy quietly slipped out of bed, pulled on his basketball shorts, and crept out of the room. He walked to the next door on his right and gave it a quiet knock. When the door clicked open shortly thereafter, it was all Tommy could do not to drool.

Kimberly was standing in the doorway, wearing only a black g-string and a bright smile. "I've been expecting you…"

--

Since they were not to be traveling overnight on this particular journey, when they boarded the train to Amsterdam the next morning, instead of moving to a cabin with beds they went to the first-class short-section where large, plush red chairs sat face-to-face on either end of the walkway with small tables separating the seats. Large rectangular windows accompanied every seat, as did pull-able drapes should the seated wish to ignore the passing scenery.

Jason, who was quite happy being the one sitting alone, deposited his backpack onto the seat across from him; slid into his chair; put his feet up on the opposite seat; and swiftly pulled the drapes over his window. Tommy, who had already stored his backpack — along with Kimberly's — in their overhead compartment, was far too busy eating his McDonald's breakfast to worry about frivolous things like drapes.

"Are you even chewing, or just inhaling?" said Kimberly, looking disgusted as Tommy devoured his sandwich in no more than three too-big-to-be-real bites.

"Wow, that's delicious," said Tommy, once he had swallowed. He then reached into the bag on the table in front of him and pulled out another. "What's this thing called again, Jase?"

"Croque McDo," said Jason, plugging in his iPod ear buds and closing his eyes. The Croque McDo, served only in Belgium and France, was their take on the Croque-monsieur sandwich; Tommy's sandwich was similar to its likeness, only the ham and melted Swiss were served on a toasted hamburger bun instead of grilled bread.

"Croque McDo," murmured Tommy, shifting his attention to Kimberly. "Why don't they sell this thing in the States?"

Kimberly shrugged. "I don't know, Tommy, maybe you should write to the Board of Directors and ask."

Tommy rolled his eyes as he replied, "Oh, very funny, Kim. _Hilarious._"

"I know," said Kimberly, grinning broadly. "I'm just awesome like that."

"Oh, whatever," muttered Tommy, smiling nonetheless.

As he polished off his last breakfast sandwich, Tommy dropped the bag of empty wrappers at his feet, popped the table into an upright position, took Kimberly's hands, and pulled her towards him. Kimberly slid happily onto his lap and quickly found a comfortable position, her arms wrapped around his neck while her head rested on his shoulder.

"I'm really glad that you decided to come with us," whispered Tommy, placing a single kiss to her exposed shoulder.

"Yeah, me too," murmured Kimberly, nuzzling his neck. "Amsterdam should be fun, yeah?"

Tommy chuckled. "Yeah, I'd say so. First thing I'm doing is finding a café and getting some brownies."

"Wait!" exclaimed Kimberly, shooting out of her resting position to look him in the eye. "Do you mean brownies, or _brownies_?" Tommy simply smirked and shrugged noncommittally as Kimberly went on, "You're joking, right? There's no way — I mean, of all people — you're joking, right?_ Right_?"

"Why is it so important?" said Tommy, who was thoroughly enjoying watching Kimberly grow more and more frustrated.

"Because, Tommy," said Kimberly, with an eye roll, "If you're talking about _brownies_ then we can go together."

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "We couldn't do that if I just meant brownies and not _brownies_?"

Kimberly started to reply, but snapped her mouth shut almost instantly, knowing that he had gotten her on that one. "That's beside the point," she hastily replied, not about to let Tommy win this war. "Why can't you just answer my question without another fucking question?"

Smiling triumphantly, Tommy silently mused that he now understood why Dimitria had almost always spoken in question: The reaction it got was absolutely priceless, not to mention hilarious and, simply put, downright entertaining.

"What is an answer, Kim, if not another question?" said Tommy, wondering how in the world he had come up with that one. "If I answered you like you want, wouldn't that only raise another question entirely?"

"Wow," breathed Kimberly, shaking her head. "Talk about waxing philosophical. You really are a doctor, aren't you?"

"Glad someone finally noticed," said Tommy, grinning. "And, unlike what Jason says, I'm not a useless doctor, either."

Kimberly smiled. "So are you going to answer my question or what?"

"Eventually," answered Tommy, pecking a kiss to her cheek. "Let's just say I'm planning on having a nice, big lunch _after_ the brownies."

Turning to kiss him, Kimberly then replied, "That about answers my question doesn't it?"

"It should," said Tommy, nodding.

"So then does that mean that you — you know?"

"No," said Tommy, shaking his head, "You?"

"No," said Kimberly. "But you have?"

"Yeah, a few times in college, but that's it," answered Tommy.

"Same here," said Kimberly. "Do you think Jason will —?"

Tommy shrugged. "Probably, but I don't know," he murmured. "I'm going to try and sleep for a few minutes, though, alright?"

"Is that your way of telling me to get up?" laughed Kimberly, slowly moving away from Tommy; but, even as she did, Tommy's hold around her waist tightened as he pulled her back down on his lap.

"No, but this is my way of telling you that I want you to stay right where you are," said Tommy, smiling.

"'kay," said Kimberly softly. It was all she could manage, as the notion of Tommy wanting her near while he slept was one that she found to be particularly sweet. For a few moments she waited for him to say something else, but as his quiet breathing steadied, she realized that he had already fallen asleep.

Smiling to herself, Kimberly closed her eyes and laid her head against Tommy's shoulder. When Jason stirred her over an hour later to let her know that they were nearing Amsterdam, Kimberly woke first to find that Tommy — who was still sleeping — was now using the side of her head as a pillow. Blinking the focus back into her eyes as she gently pushed away from Tommy a bit, Kimberly soon saw that Jason was holding a finger to his lips and extending his cell phone towards her.

"Thought you might want to see this," whispered Jason as Kimberly took the phone.

A widespread smile formed on Kimberly's face next moment: Jason had taken a picture of her and Tommy sleeping. Both were subconsciously smiling in the photograph, blissfully unaware that their smiles were the shared result of the same exact thing.

"Can you send it to me?" mouthed Kimberly.

Jason nodded. "Sure," he replied quietly. He began tapping away at his phone and a few seconds later Kimberly felt her own phone buzzing against her hip.

"Thanks," said Kimberly, who then turned to Tommy and, bringing her lips to his ear, whispered, "Come on, sexy, time to wake up."

"Yeah," murmured Tommy; though his eyes remained shut, his smile grew even wider. "Yeah, right there, Kim. Mmm…yeah, Beautiful, that's the spot."

Kimberly's eyes went wide with horror, her face beet red as she looked from Jason — who was grinning knowingly — to Tommy's basketball shorts. Loose-fitting though they were, she could still see the effects of the dream he was currently having. Luckily, the position of her body across Tommy's prevented Jason from seeing it as well.

"Tommy," said Kimberly, much louder this time, pushing on his shoulder. "Come on, Tommy, we're almost there." Tommy grunted, his head turning violently in protest. Rolling her eyes, Kimberly continued, "Tommy, either you wake your ass up right now or dreaming about it is the best you're going to get for the rest of this trip!"

Almost instantly Tommy's eyes were opened, and as he turned towards Kimberly it was as though he were viewing her for the very first time. "You're not a very nice person, you know that, right?" he muttered, glowering. "That was quite possibly one of the best dreams I've ever had, Kim; not cool."

"We could have left you on the train; still can, if you prefer dreaming to the real thing," replied Kimberly, grinning impishly.

"Nope, that's quite alright," said Tommy, slipping his hand under the hem her shirt, his fingertips dancing along the small of her back. "How far out are we, Jase?"

"About ten minutes," answered Jason, who had since returned to his seat.

"Cool," said Tommy, lifting Kimberly from his lap as he rose to his feet. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" asked Kimberly, sliding back into Tommy's seat.

"Bathroom," grunted Tommy. With that, he turned down the walkway and soon disappeared from sight.

Peering around his seat to make sure that Tommy was indeed gone, Jason then looked to Kimberly and said, "Seems like you guys are moving right along, aren't you?"

Kimberly smiled and gave a lazy shrug. "Yeah, I guess so. I don't know, though; it's weird."

Jason furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well," started Kimberly, pausing for a moment to gather her thoughts. "Nothing's really changed. I mean, yeah, we're older now and the things we talk about are different, but, at the same time, it feels like we never even broke up at all."

"That's a good thing, right?"

Kimberly nodded as she replied, "Yeah, it definitely is. I'm certainly not complaining. I knew the physical attraction was still there — hell, I knew it was still there when Murianthis happened — but just being around him puts butterflies in my stomach like it used to do when we were kids. I can't explain it, it's just —"

"Love?" said Jason, smirking.

Raising an eyebrow, Kimberly sighed. "We've been in each other's company for less than a week after not seeing each other for damn near three years. Deep down, I know I'll always love him, just like I know that I'll always love you and the rest of the _others_, but I don't know if I'm _in love_, you know?"

"No, I don't know," said Jason, shaking his head. "All I know is that, even though a ton of time has passed between you guys, all it takes is one look when you two are together and it becomes ridiculously obvious how much you enjoy being in each other's company. For everything you guys have been through — to still have that connection — I have to admit, it's nice to see. I don't know many people who could pull that off. And, as far as the whole love-thing goes, if you're really _not_ in love with him then you're doing a piss-poor job of showing it."

"I —" began Kimberly, not really sure what to say. "It scares me, Jase. What happens after this, you know? I go back to Florida; he goes back to California; and then what? I think history has already proven that I'm not the best at long-distance relationships."

"Kim, let me tell you a little story about a guy I know named Wes Collins, one of the best damn Reds I've ever met," said Jason, moving to the seat across from Kimberly so as not to be overheard by civilians. "Wes was on the Time Force team, and in the beginning, he was the only one on the team not from the present time — Pink, Green, Blue, and Yellow all came from the year 3000. They had chased a criminal named Ransik back through time. They also had very strict orders from their superiors, though, and were given only two purposes: capture Ransik, and stop his mutants from destroying the planet, nothing more. Even the smallest thing could have drastically altered the course of history.

"Anyway, Wes and Jen — the Pink, by the way — had a pretty rocky relationship from the beginning, from what I've heard. Wes was the ancestor of her fiancé, Alex, who everyone thought had been killed by Ransik before his escape. He wasn't — just really badly injured — but that's beside the point. For awhile, Wes was nothing more than a reminder to Jen of what she had lost in the future. As time went on, though, they ended up falling in love. But if something as small as being seen by the wrong person could change history, imagine what would happen if two people from entirely different millenniums ended up getting together."

Kimberly seemed to ponder that for a moment and then said, "So what's your point?"

"I'm getting there," said Jason. "Once Ransik had been captured, Jen and the rest of the Time Force Rangers were ordered by Alex to return to the future, which they did. Jen and Wes were heartbroken, obviously. Then the Wild Force team came around to fight Master Org and his Org minions, and at one point, they desperately needed outside help. The Time Force Rangers came back to the present; it was the first time that Jen and Wes had seen each other in well over a year. Nothing had changed; they still loved and cared deeply each other, but both knew that it would never work out with their time difference. There was just too much standing in their way.

"A lot of people believe in fate, pre-determined destiny and all that stuff, but not Wes. Every single action we make, no matter how small you may think it is, can have a major impact on the future. Take this guy walking towards us, for example. The floor's dry now, but what happens if I were to intentionally spill some water on it? Say he slips and falls, breaks three bones, has to go to the hospital, and gets killed in a car crash en route, none of which would have happened if I hadn't spilled my water. See what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," said Kimberly, nodding. "But I still don't understand your point about me and Tommy."

Jason chuckled. "Well, Kim, Wes made a plea to the higher-ups in Time Force after the Mut-Orgs had been taken care of. I don't know exactly what he said to them, but somehow he convinced them to let Jen stay in the past and they were married a year later. The point I'm trying to make is that, if those two can overcome a thousand _years'_ difference, how hard could it possibly be for you and Tommy to overcome a few thousand miles?"

"So if that's the case for me and Tommy, why doesn't that apply to you and Kat?" said Kimberly.

Opening his mouth — and closing it just as quickly — Jason wracked his brain for the answer to the question he had yet to ask himself until right now. "I — I don't know," he muttered, looking out the window. "You're right, though. It absolutely should." The sadness in his eyes was impossible not to notice.

"Come on, Jase," murmured Kimberly, reaching out to place her hand atop his. "One way or another, everything will work out in the end, just like it always does."

"I sure hope so," said Jason distantly.

"It will, Jason, trust me," said Kimberly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

Jason nodded but said nothing. It was only moments later that Tommy returned, Kimberly pulling her hand away from Jason's before Tommy had time to see it. She did not know what Tommy's reaction would have been had he seen her hand atop Jason's, but most of the guys she had dated would have been none too happy seeing such a thing. While Tommy was nothing like her other boyfriends, the removal of her hand from Jason's was more habitual than anything else, done to avoid the conflict that surely would have arisen had Tommy been her prior flame, a jealous and insecure child in a man's body called Andy.

"You're in my seat," announced Tommy, standing at Jason's side with his arms folded across his chest.

"Actually, I'm in Kim's seat," said Jason, matter-of-factly. "_She's_ in your seat."

"Touché," said Tommy, nodding as he turned his attention to Kimberly. "You're in my seat."

"Indeed I am, Tommy," replied Kimberly, smirking up at him. "Indeed I am."

Tommy stared at Kimberly, momentarily waiting to see if she would return his seat to him, but then a voice came through the speakers in the ceiling, announcing their arrival in Amsterdam just as the train lurched and instantly began to lose speed.

Immediately, his seat was no longer important, and as a smile crossed his face, he said, "We're here, guys."

--


	7. Dutch Exploration

_**Title: Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter Seven — Dutch Exploration**_

_**Original Posting Date: September 3, 2009**_

--

Several hours later, there was an undeniable air of depression amongst the trio as they walked out of the house on _Prinsengracht _Street numbered 263. From the sidewalk it appeared to be just another normal house on the row — a four-story brick building that was much taller than it was wide, standing in between its matching brethren — but inside the home was another story entirely.

Neither Tommy nor Jason had ever been much for extreme displays of emotion; anything more than a smile or frown usually meant that something had affected them tremendously, as was the case today. Their eyes were watery, neither speaking for there were no words to describe the immense sadness that both felt.

So distracted was Tommy by his own internal conflict that he did not even acknowledge Kimberly, who was clutching his arm as though her life depended on it, her own eyes red and puffy from the tears that had started falling fiercely almost as soon as they had entered the house that had been converted some forty-plus years ago into the Anne Frank Museum.

_The Diary of a Young Girl_ had been required reading in Ms. Applebee's sophomore English class; Anne's story had been known by the trio for many years, but the impact of what they had read had not truly set in until they had walked the house that had once been the Secret Annex for the Frank and van Pels families during the Holocaust. The house stood as a constant reminder, not only of what the two families had been through, but of the injustices of persecution and discrimination as well.

Outside the home was a canal, and once she had disentangled herself from Tommy, it was the edge of the water where Kimberly immediately started towards. Tommy and Jason watched from afar as she approached the edge and took a seat on the ground, allowing her legs to dangle a few feet above the water's surface.

For awhile they simply stood there in silence, giving Kimberly the time and space needed to compose herself. Then, from their vantage point twenty or so feet away, Tommy turned to Jason with a helpless expression and said, "Look at her, bro. I-I just can't stand seeing her sad like that. I've got to go talk to her."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, I think you should. I'll wait here."

"Cool, man, thanks," murmured Tommy, and with that he started walking towards her.

When he sat down next to her he said nothing, merely put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close, allowing Kimberly to bury her face against his chest as a fresh round of tears began to fall.

"You probably think I'm crazy, don't you?" said Kimberly, hiccoughing through her tears. "Crying this much over something that happened sixty years ago…"

Tommy managed a small chuckle as he replied, "No, I don't think you're crazy, Kim. I'd be much more concerned if you weren't crying, to be honest. I mean, hell, look at Jason and I; we were crying too. When was the last time you saw either one of us cry?"

Kimberly shrugged half-heartedly. "It's just not fair, Tommy. I-I've never been able to wrap my mind around things like the Holocaust…how so many people could do such terrible things to their fellow man. I just — I don't understand it."

"I know, Kim, it confuses the hell out of me, too," said Tommy. Sighing, he pressed a kiss to the side of her head and went on, "Unfortunately, the world isn't full of people like you and me and Jason and the other Rangers. I wish it was, but it's not. If I could, I'd go back in time and kill each of those Nazi bastards myself."

"I'd cut Hitler's dick off first, and _then_ I'd kill him," muttered Kimberly, with a sniffle.

This time Tommy's laugh was not forced at all. "There's the Kim I know. Just…just don't let this beat you up, okay? I know what happened to all those people is terrible, but we can't change the past. All we can do is work towards making the future a better place."

Kimberly nodded in silence; no words could have done justice to the great rush of emotion she was currently experiencing: sadness and anger over what she had just seen, and an incredible sense of affection towards Tommy for his gentle and patient approach.

"Come on," continued Tommy, his voice a low murmur as he rose to his feet. "Let's go grab some lunch or something."

"Sure," said Kimberly distantly. She took Tommy's offered hands and allowed him to pull her into a standing position, but the look on her face was enough to tell Tommy that eating was one of the last things she wanted to do.

The somber mood amongst the trio remained throughout lunch, which was eaten outside at a quiet café near the outskirts of town; though they all wanted to focus on more positive things, it seemed impossible to do so when the horrors that they had born witness to earlier were still so fresh in their memories.

Jason, who was the only one to have visited Amsterdam before, had a few ideas on how to take their minds off the Anne Frank Museum. He was on the verge of suggesting Amsterdam's torture museum when his mouth snapped shut, Jason having obviously thought better of that particular idea. While certainly interesting in its own right, the torture museum was definitely not the place to go right now. Still, they were desperate for something to do, anything that would make them forget the awful things they had seen just an hour earlier.

"We could always go to one of the coffee shops," suggested Jason near the end of their meal. "A good pastry might help, you know…"

"You know, I hope you guys don't think less of me, but I could definitely use a brownie after all that depressing stuff," muttered Kimberly, her hand holding Tommy's beneath the table.

"Kim, the Pope would need a good brownie after that," said Tommy, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Besides, we talked about this earlier. Why would I think less of you?"

Kimberly sighed and gave a lazy shrug. "I don't know, it just — on the train it didn't seem like such a big deal, but now it kind of seems like a copout, you know? Like it's just an excuse to forget about everything…"

Jason and Tommy shared a knowing look, but it was Jason who spoke first. "Neither one of us thinks that it's a copout, Kim; honestly, it's really not even that big of a deal. As we all just saw a little while ago, at the end of the day, there are a million worse things that you could be doing than that."

That seemed enough to put Kimberly's mind at ease and, once the lunch bill had been settled, they continued on their way. It did not take long to find one of the coffee shops they were looking for, which were easily identifiable despite direct advertisement of their product being forbidden by law. The red-yellow-green Ethiopian flag being flown outside along with island imagery were the two telltale signs, of which there were plenty.

While not legal in the technical sense, law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands had long ago adopted a policy of non-enforcement when it came to the consumption and possession of "soft drugs" such as cannabis and hashish. They soon approached a two-story building with a neon sign depicting a palm tree, the words _Coffee Shop_ in loopy green letters, and _Speak Easy_ in equally loopy red beneath the green.

The unmistakable scent of the cannabis plant reached them as soon as they had opened the door and stepped inside. They paused just inside the door to look around at the interior of the coffee shop. The place was dimly lit; with many booths, couches, and tables in dull shades of red and brown; and a long ordering counter that displayed a chalkboard-menu on the wall and a glass pastry case to the side.

It was then that, with closed eyes, Kimberly breathed in deeply through her nose and proclaimed, "God, I love that smell!"

"Put it on the board," said Tommy.

"Quote it!" added Jason, sharing a grin and fist bump with Tommy.

"What does that mean?" said Kimberly, bewildered as she looked between the two men.

Tommy chuckled as he placed his hand on Kimberly's far shoulder. "It means we agree," he answered.

"Oh," said Kimberly, nodding. "Good," she added with a smile.

That being said, they approached the counter being manned by two guys who were the physical epitome of the Rastafarian movement. Both were dark-skinned with long, thick dreadlocks worn beneath patterned hats colored in the image of the Ethiopian flag.

"That accent is so awesome," said Kimberly a few minutes later, as they walked towards a table after placing and receiving their order. Each had ordered one regular espresso beverage and two small, special brownies called Space Cakes. As they soon learned, the brownies were called such for good reason; one was enough, the second entirely unnecessary.

Within ten minutes of consuming their first brownies they were all droopy-eyed and grinning madly, despite the fact that no one had said anything funny. There was an immediate and euphoric sense of numbness amongst the trio, their minds simultaneously erased of all thoughts except those that pleased them the most.

Tommy, who was sharing a couch with Kimberly, laid his head back against the cushion and closed his eyes, his smile even wider than before. He was thinking of himself standing in the middle of an open park on a warm summer's day, moving through a rather detailed kata while Kimberly watched from nearby. "This is awesome," he murmured distantly, his head slowly rolling forward as he looked between Jason and Kimberly. "You guys are awesome. I fucking love you both."

Seated on the couch across the table from Tommy and Kimberly, Jason chuckled. "You're way high, bro."

"Nah, I'm good, man," said Tommy, grinning while shaking his head exaggeratedly. "I'm way good."

"Well, you can pretend all you want," said Kimberly, as she inched closer and closer to Tommy, "But I'm on the moon right now and I'm not afraid to admit it. They definitely don't make it like this in Florida, that's for damn sure."

Jason and Tommy both began to reply at the exact same time, but instantly fell silent when Jason's phone began to ring. As soon as he had pulled the device from his pocket, Jason's eyes went wide.

"Fuck, its Kat!" announced Jason nervously. "What am I going to do? I can't talk to her right now! Shit, I'm really screwed, guys, aren't I?"

"Just be cool, bro," said Tommy, nodding his head towards the door. "Go outside or something, maybe some fresh air will help a bit."

"Doubtful," muttered Jason, rising to his feet. "But it's worth a shot."

As he walked towards the door he cleared his throat and quietly answered the call.

"Hey you," said Katherine, her tone soft and pleasant. "How's Europe treating you?"

Jason started to laugh, but quickly forced himself to stop as he stepped outside. "It's been fun. We're having a great time," he answered honestly. "You'll never guess who we ran into in Paris."

"Kimberly?" said Katherine knowingly.

"What —? How did you —?" stammered Jason.

Katherine giggled. "Think about who we're friends with, Jase. Kim told Aisha and within an hour Aisha had the rest of the girls on a conference call. From the sound of it, Kim and Tommy are giving it another go, yeah?"

"Yeah, something like that," said Jason. "It's complicated."

"Like us?"

Jason sighed. "Yeah, exactly like us."

There was a pause at that point. Jason moved to a nearby bench and took a seat as he waited for Katherine to break the silence. Finally, she said, "So what's going on? Where are you now?"

"Tommy wanted to stop in Amsterdam so we're here for a few days," said Jason half-truthfully. Of course, he had wanted to visit the city as much as Tommy, but saying so would have likely led to a whole slew of questions that he was in no shape to answer at the moment. "After that, we'll probably head into Germany."

"Sounds fun," said Katherine.

"Yeah, it's been so far," said Jason.

It was clear both were trying to avoid the proverbial elephant in the room. There was so much that needed to be discussed, yet doing so meant having to confront everything that had plagued their relationship these last few months. Still, Jason had waited long enough for this moment…

"Alright, I'm just going to come right out and say it," began Jason. He then took a very deep breath and went on, "I want to know where we stand, Kat. We haven't talked for months…is there still an 'us' or what? Because, honestly, the not-knowing is killing me."

Katherine sighed. "I don't know, Jason. As much as I'd like there to be, I think our last argument was a pretty clear indication of where things stand. You have your life in California, I have mine in London, and right now they just don't cross paths."

"You know, two months ago I would have agreed with you," said Jason, unfazed. "Now, though…well, we should be in London in ten days or so. I'll show you what I mean then."

"You're coming here?" said Katherine in surprise.

"Yeah, we are," answered Jason confidently. He was not asking for her permission; whether she wanted him to come or not, he was going to. "Things have changed, Kat. I want you to know that I haven't given up on us yet, and I hope you haven't either."

"This really isn't a conversation for the phone, is it?" said Katherine.

Jason chuckled. "No, it's really not. That's why we're coming to London after Germany. Anyways, I should probably get going. Tommy's yelling at me about going to the sex museum."

"Yeah, that sounds like Tommy alright," supplied Katherine with a knowing giggle. "I'm telling you, as soon as that boy lost his V-card —"

"Don't remind me," said Jason, for it was fairly common knowledge amongst their circle that Tommy, his best friend, and Katherine, his kind-of-sort-of girlfriend, had been each other's firsts in a relationship that had lasted four-plus years.

"Hey, don't go getting all jealous on me now!" said Katherine. "He was good, but you are much, _much_ better," she purred, bringing a bright smile to Jason's face. "Maybe you can remind me when you get here…"

Jason closed his eyes and gave a small, triumphant fist pump. Obviously, she had not completely given up on them, either. "Trust me, it will be my pleasure."

"I'm sure it will be," said Katherine. "I'll let you get going, though; don't want to keep Tommy waiting. Give him and Kimberly my love, will you?"

"Definitely," said Jason.

"Okay, then," murmured Katherine. "Bye, Jase."

"Bye," said Jason, but as he went to end the call, he quickly added, "Hey, Kat?

"Hmm?" said Katherine.

"I love you," said Jason. "I — I just wanted you to know that."

Katherine remained silent for quite some time after that, leaving Jason anxiously wondering whether he had perhaps gone too far. It had only been a few weeks before their blowout when love had first been admitted; maybe he should not have said anything at all…

"I love you too, Jase," replied Katherine softly. "Be safe out there, okay?"

Jason grinned. "I will be. See you soon."

Katherine said goodbye once more, this time for good. The buzz Jason felt as he walked back into the coffee shop was greater than anything a Space Cake could provide him, or at least that was what he had thought until he got close enough to the couches to see Tommy and Kimberly engaged in a heavy make-out session. She was seated facing Tommy on his lap, her arms around his neck while his hands sat on either side of her petite waist.

Wishing that it was he and Katherine on that couch, Jason closed his eyes and walked right back outside without a word. No friend who was even halfway decent would have interrupted that, but that did not mean he wanted to watch it happen, either.

Once outside, Jason found the same bench he had just been occupying, reclaimed his seat, pulled out his cell phone, and began surfing the Internet. It was nearly twenty minutes later when Kimberly and Tommy finally emerged, Kimberly holding onto Tommy's arm, his free hand carrying a small bag with their remaining brownies while they continued to kiss like two hormonal teenagers.

Jason rolled his eyes subtly but remained silent as they approached.

"Damn, dude, were you on the phone that long?" said Tommy, moving his arm around Kimberly's shoulder.

"No," said Jason, shaking his head. "I was only on the phone for, like, five or ten minutes. I just figured I was better off staying out here than going back inside and watching you two make-out."

"Sorry, bro," said Tommy, with an awkward shrug and laugh. "You know how it is though."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, I do," he replied. "So where do you guys want to go next; another museum?"

Tommy and Kimberly looked equally horrified. "After spending the morning in the most depressing museum on the face of the earth," started Kimberly, "I never want to step foot inside another museum as long as I live."

"Seconded," said Tommy.

Jason chuckled. "I had a different kind of museum in mind, one that won't be depressing at all."

--

As it turned out, the museum in question was Amsterdam's world famous Sex Museum located in the heart of the city's red light district. For the first time since entering Europe, Tommy had been genuinely excited about a museum trip, and it showed in his take-charge attitude that had kicked in once Jason had told him of the museum.

Suddenly Tommy's Blackberry had been in hand, the leader in him shining through as headed the charge to the museum while simultaneously searching for directions on his phone. Jason, who had spent the majority of the trip leading the way, was more than happy to step back and let Tommy take control.

Tommy's enthusiasm was infectious, and the overall mood amongst the three had lightened considerably by the time they had reached the museum. Three hours later, their minds were free of their burden after viewing the very detailed — and occasionally graphic — history of sex throughout the ages. In Tommy's mind it was, without a doubt, the most interesting non-dinosaur related museum that he had ever visited, a fact which he had made well known on multiple occasions.

On one such occasion, as they strolled along a stretch of sidewalk much later that evening, moving towards the train that would take them to the center of town, Kimberly stopped and released her hold on Tommy's hand. She then moved in front of him and, with her arms folded across her chest and her head tilted indignantly towards her right shoulder, said, "So let me get this straight. The way you're making it sound, if it was a choice between dinosaur fossils and sex, you'd choose dinosaur fossils."

Wearing a black, knee-length cocktail dress and matching heels that she had just purchased a few hours prior, Kimberly looked so beautiful in Tommy's eye that he found a hard time immediately replying. Though he and Jason were no schmucks in slacks and ties — white-and-black and red-and-black respectively, also purchased just hours earlier — there was simply no denying that Kimberly was the star of the group.

Finally Tommy laughed heartily, so much so that he was soon doubled over and clutching his side, all the while Kimberly looking more and more frustrated by the moment. When he was finally able to stand straight he did so with a great inward heave, his cheeks rosy red as he grinned towards Jason. "Can you believe this girl?" he said, shaking his head.

Jason shrugged. "Sounds to me like she hasn't been paying much attention, bro," he replied.

Kimberly shot Jason a deathly glare then turned to Tommy and said, "What'd I miss?"

"Kim," started Tommy, very slowly, "How many times on this trip have you heard me talk about dinosaur fossils?"

After pondering his question for a moment, Kimberly answered, "Tonight was the first night, why?"

Tommy sighed, silently wondering how in the world it was possibly taking this long. It was not as though Kimberly were an unintelligent woman; rather, she put most of the women Tommy had dated to shame.

"How many times on this trip have you heard me talk about sex?" asked Tommy.

"I don't know," said Kimberly, shrugging helplessly, "A lot more than dinosaur fossils, that's for sure. What's your point, Tommy?"

"My point, Kim, is that I can't believe you would even say something as ridiculous as what you just did after everything I've said the last few days," replied Tommy. "Dinosaur fossils over sex? Get real! Who in their right mind would be that lame? I don't prefer fossils to sex; I prefer fossils to _museums about_ sex. That museum was cooler than any other one we've been to so far, but that isn't saying much. At the end of the day, it was just a bunch of old sex toys and paintings of Greeks in weird positions. I didn't _learn_ anything."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Jason, moving to stand by Kimberly's side. "Since when have _you_ cared about learning? We've been to more than a dozen different museums and you've barely paid attention in any of them!"

"And your point?" said Tommy, his brow furrowed. "I didn't pay attention at those museums because they weren't interesting to me. Art just isn't something I care a whole hell of a lot about. I paid attention when we went to that medieval castle though, didn't I? And at the Hofburg."

Jason nodded. "He did pay attention at the Hofburg," he said to Kimberly, as though conceding defeat. "Anyway, now that everything's been cleared up, can we please get moving? We're going to be pushing it to catch the train as it is and the next one isn't for another fifteen minutes. I'm going to be pissed if we miss the boat."

"You're starting to sound like Rocky and Conner, bro," said Tommy, grinning as he clasped Jason on the shoulder. "You Red Rangers…always thinking with your stomachs, aren't you?"

"Dude, you're a Red too," said Jason.

Tommy laughed. "Hardly," he replied, shaking his head. "Yeah, I wore the color, but I don't really identify as a Red. Truth be told, I don't really have just one color that I identify with. How the hell could I, you know?"

"Speaking of which," added Kimberly, as they began walking once more. "You never really told me about your last go-around. How was it?"

Smiling broadly, Tommy spent the rest of the walk and their entire train ride telling Kimberly all about his most recent experience in spandex. Most of his story was impressive; still, though she had already known long ago about his change to black, that he had somehow inherited yet another new color in the Ranger Rainbow was cause for great amusement on Kimberly's part.

At one point, in the midst of a furious round of giggles as they exited the train, Kimberly said, "Talk about an identity crisis. I think someone needs to visit Power Rangers Anonymous." Then, with a sudden inflection of seriousness in both expression and tone, she stood tall, raised her right hand, and stated, "Hello, my name is Tommy Oliver and I'm a Ranger-holic."

"Hi, Tommy!" said Jason, loud enough to echo the supporting sentiments of a meeting room full of fellow addicts."

"You guys suck," countered Tommy, laughing despite himself as they navigated the streets of central Amsterdam. "It's not like I had a choice, you know. If it was up to me, I'd have stuck with green or white the entire time."

Jason and Kimberly shared knowing smiles and then shook their heads at Tommy as they moved through Dam Square. Located at the heart of the city along the Amstel River, Dam Square was one of the most well-known and important locations in all of Amsterdam. As Tommy immediately pointed out, they were not too far from the red-light district (_de Wallen _in Dutch).

"We could always eat later," he said hopefully.

The looks that Jason and Kimberly gave him, however, told an entirely different story. Tommy quickly decided to put that visit off for awhile, and soon they were approaching a stretch of the Amstel River where an elegant river boat circa-1920 sat waiting for them, bathing in the moonlight that shimmered so beautifully across the water's rippling surface.

"I haven't even been inside and it already looks like it was worth the price," commented Jason, as they continued towards the boat.

"Even if it isn't, it's not like you had to pay for it," said Kimberly, laughing.

Realization crossed Jason's face a moment later. "Oh, yeah," he murmured, nodding once. "Tell Pierre I said thanks, and that it was excellent even if it sucks."

"Wow, way to be a kiss-ass," muttered Tommy, with a roll of his eyes. He was soon left grunting and doubled over by Kimberly, Tommy the victim of a deadly accurate elbow to the stomach.

"It's called being _polite_," replied Kimberly, glowering down at Tommy.

Tommy coughed and forced himself to nod. "Fair enough," he croaked, grasping his midsection as he straightened up gingerly. "Tell Pierre I said the same thing that Jason said, only instead of excellent, say glorious. Wait, too fruity; tell him it was Morphinomenal instead. No, too identity-exposing; damn. Just —" he sighed, shaking his head. "Just tell him I said the same thing that Jason said."

"Good choice, buddy," said Jason, patting Tommy on the back. "It's always better to follow the leader, especially when the leader is me, the best leader in the history of leaders."

"Oh, back to this, are we?" said Tommy, letting out a loud groan as a slight misstep sent a surge of pain rushing through his stomach. "You really suck, Kim, you know that?"

Smiling softly, she wrapped her arms around Tommy's waist in a loose embrace and, with an exaggerated whip of her hair, looked up at him and whispered, "Oh, you have no idea."

Next moment, her lips were firmly attached to his, the pair kissing passionately for quite some time. Turning his back, Jason gave them nearly two minutes; when he turned back around, their lips were still locked. Rolling his eyes, Jason cleared his throat in an attempt to garner their attention. When that failed he tried again, only louder, but received the same result. Finally, in a burst of desperation, Jason took two giant steps closer and barked, "Hey, fuck-heads!"

That seemed to do the trick. Equally scarlet, Tommy and Kimberly pulled apart and then slowly turned their heads to face Jason, who was standing a few feet away from them. "Sorry, bro," murmured Tommy, with an apologetic expression.

"Yeah," added Kimberly, nodding. "Sorry about that, Jase."

Jason shrugged. "It's cool," he replied indifferently. "If you guys are done —" He gave a comically sweeping bow and gestured towards the boat.

"Right," said Tommy, flashing a grin.

They were at the entrance to the boat in less than a minute's time, a suited man standing on either side of the bridge leading from the dock to the boat. _"Kaartjes tevreden,"_ said the man on the left, extending his hand in a give-it-to-me motion.

Kimberly immediately reached into her handbag and pulled out a thin piece of printed-on cardboard. "He wants our tickets," said Kimberly, handing hers over for inspection. A moment later, it was returned to her.

"I didn't know you speak Dutch," said Tommy, sounding slightly impressed as he passed his ticket to the man.

"I don't," replied Kimberly, shrugging. "It just seemed pretty obvious what he wanted."

Tommy chuckled, took his ticket back, grabbed Kimberly's hand, and waited for Jason's entry to be approved. Shortly thereafter they were crossing the bridge and stepping through a pair of glossy oak double doors at the center of the boat.

Inside was fairly large, though much longer than it was wide. There were only eight tables — four on either side of the entryway, all of them occupied — a doorway to the kitchen in back, two restrooms on the other side, and — perhaps most importantly — a tended and fully functional bar.

They were quickly greeted by another suited man; this one greeted them in English and led them to their table with a large, painted-on smile, giving the trio the impression that he had done it so many times that his lips were permanently stuck that way.

It did not take long after they were seated for yet another suited man to approach their table, this one their waiter. He explained that their first drink was complimentary and that tabs for any further drinks were paid at the end of the dinner cruise. Tommy and Jason both ordered Heinekens — a Dutch beer, and the only one served on the cruise — while Kimberly chose a glass of white wine.

Chatting casually while they waited for their drinks, no sooner had the waiter reappeared than the boat slowly creaked forward. They were moving.

For nearly three hours they cruised gracefully along the Amstel River while being treated to an up-close and personal view of Amsterdam's many wondrous canals and bridges. Even Tommy found them interesting, though nowhere near as much as the veal rib-eye that both he and Jason had ordered. After appetizers of steak tartare and Dutch shrimp-and-crayfish croquette, their meals arrived, and though Kimberly had at one point mentioned wanting a steak, when the menu's only choices revealed themselves as halibut or baby cow, choosing the fish was not a hard decision for her to make.

They were just finishing up their main courses when a fourth suited man approached their table, this one with a look that told Tommy he was no staff member. Instead, he was beaming at the back of Kimberly's head, causing Tommy to shoot an irksome glare at the man that went quite unnoticed.

"_Was this guy really that thick?"_ Tommy asked himself. Could he not tell that Kimberly was obviously in the company of another man? Two, in fact! It mattered very little, though.

"Kimberly, is that you?" said the man, his hair wavy and blonde, with blue eyes so deep it was no surprise that Kimberly's eyes immediately went to his.

"David?" squealed Kimberly, practically jumping out of her seat to hug the man, Tommy looking less and less pleased by the second. "Oh my god, I can't believe it! What are you doing in Amsterdam?"

"Remember that Dutch soccer player from the Pan Globals?"

"Felix?" said Kimberly in surprise. "The one you were crushing on since you saw him in opening ceremonies?"

Inside, Tommy could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. For a moment there, he had been seriously contemplating tornado-kicking that guy's head into the Amstel River. Having clearly sensed this, Jason gave Tommy's leg a discreet kick beneath the table and grinned knowingly.

"Yeah, that's the one," replied David, nodding. He then held up his left hand to reveal a simple, white gold wedding band on his ring finger. "The Netherlands were the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, and since Felix is already from here, moving here was a no-brainer."

"See," said Kimberly, smiling as she smacked his shoulder playfully. "I always told you that you were going to get married before me."

David, it seemed, could not help beaming at that. "What about you?"

"Well, I was visiting my mom and step dad in France when I met up with these two," answered Kimberly, moving her head towards the table. "This is Jason and Tommy. You remember them, right?"

Tommy and Jason shared a confused look with one another, for neither had ever met this other man before. Still, David nodded, which only served to confuse the pair even more. "How could I forget? You were always talking about these two," he replied, nodding politely towards the pair while tactfully failing to mention that his had been the shoulder that Kimberly had cried on for so many nights while debating her high school relationship with Tommy. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you guys," he continued, extending his hand to Jason first.

"Yeah, you too, man," said Jason, shaking the offered hand.

"Same here," added Tommy, shaking David's hand as well.

David nodded once more and then redirected his attention to Kimberly. "Anyway," he went on. "It's Felix's birthday tonight, so after dinner we're having a big bash at the house. You should definitely come."

"Oh, I'd love to," said Kimberly, her brief excitement washed away with a frown, "But I can't ditch Tommy and Jason."

"I don't remember asking you to," replied David, grinning impishly at Kimberly while she glowered back at him. "You're all more than welcome to come. It should be a lot of fun."

Kimberly slowly turned back towards the table. "What do you guys think?" she asked of Tommy and Jason.

Tommy took a sip from his glass of beer and shrugged. "I don't see why not," he answered. "It's not like we have anything else to do after this."

"This is true," supplied Jason, nodding. "I'm always down for a good party."

"It's settled then," said David. He quickly gave Kimberly the address — which she then passed on to Jason for a MapQuest — and, with a toothy smile, added, "Well, I really need to get going. Like I said, it's Felix's birthday, so I don't want to leave him alone for too long. I'll see you guys later though, 'kay?"

"Definitely," said Kimberly, nodding before accepting David's hug and kiss to the cheek.

Tommy fought the urge to glare. "Nice meeting you, man," he murmured, shaking David's hand briefly as Jason did the same. As soon as David had left, the first thing Tommy made mention of were his original plans for David's head.

This earned a hearty laugh from Jason, but even that was lost when he saw the fear-inducing look that Kimberly was sending Tommy's way. "What was so bad about David?" she questioned rather demandingly.

"He kissed you," answered Tommy.

"On the cheek," said Kimberly, impatience thick in her voice. "And I _know_ you heard what he said about being gay, so it's not like you have anything to be worried about."

Tommy folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow as he countered, "Who said that I was worried?"

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Tommy," she replied. "You were determined not to like him from the beginning."

"That's not true," argued Tommy. "He was an alright dude —" He trailed off for a few seconds and then, smirking, added, "— once I realized that he wasn't coming onto you."

Poking lazily at her fish, Kimberly inclined her head just enough to meet Tommy's eyes and smile softly. "Just — don't be a jackass to him, alright?" she said firmly. "David's a really good guy; he was one of my best friends in Florida."

"Hey, I'm cool as long as he's only batting from one side of the plate," said Tommy. "If he tries coming onto you though —"

"Tommy, he's not going to," said Kimberly, sounding slightly exasperated. "Besides, what if he did? Are you going to beat up every other guy who ever hits on me?"

Tommy did not hesitate to answer, "If I have to."

"Oh, shut up, Tommy," replied Kimberly, laughing.

"Yeah, shut up, Tommy," interjected Jason.

Everything fell silent at that point, as though both Tommy and Kimberly had temporarily forgotten about their third member. Luckily, their waiter arrived shortly thereafter to clear their plates and take dessert orders. Tommy, who had been expecting extravagant pies and cakes, was clearly disappointed to hear that the dessert choices were either assorted cheeses or a fruit and yogurt parfait.

"Who the hell has cheese for dessert?" said Tommy, once the waiter had left with three parfait orders.

"The Dutch," answered Jason deadpan.

Tommy gave an elongated roll of his eyes and said, "That's no excuse. Cheese for dessert is the worst idea since Greedo shooting first."

"Did you really just make a Star Wars reference?" said Kimberly rhetorically. "First you get a doctorate; then you become a teacher; and now this! Are you _trying_ to be Billy's twin, or what?"

"Well, I'd just like to say I'm sorry that I'm educated, have a good job, and enjoy quality movies," replied Tommy with an air of apology too thick to be real. "I guess I'm just a terrible person," he added, shrugging helplessly.

"You know, you were so self-depreciating back in high school, I probably would have believed you actually felt that way if you had said stuff like that back then," replied Kimberly, laughing softly, her foot rubbing Tommy's leg beneath the table.

Tommy just shrugged. Anyone who knew the story of the how the world's most legendary Ranger had come to be also knew why he had carried such a self-loathing attitude for much of his tenure; nearly killing thousands of innocent people while under the influence of an evil spell had the tendency to do those things to a person. Still, he had long since grown out of that faze of self-hatred, turning what had been uncontrollable acts of evil into motivation that had driven him to become, without a doubt, the most tenured and well respected Power Ranger to ever don the spandex uniform on Earth.

By the time they had returned to the dock in Dam Square it was well past ten o'clock at night and all three members of the trio had had enough to drink on the boat that their trip back to the hostel was quite amusing in itself: Jason, it seemed, had lost all ability to walk in anything that even remotely resembled a straight line; Tommy made it a point to yell on multiple occasions how much he loved Amsterdam; and there was a rarely a moment on their train ride and walk where Kimberly did not find _something_ worth giggling about.

One particular road sign — this one just a few hundred meters from their hostel — warning motorists to be careful of bicyclists in the area had left Kimberly in hysterics for nearly five full minutes. The red sign had shown a bicycle slamming into a car post-impact, the body of the stick-figure cyclists flipping wildly over the top of the vehicle. While the act itself was certainly not funny, there was just something undeniably amusing about a stick-figure man flying over a car with legs so contorted that they went in the complete opposite direction of his torso.

Soon they were approaching their hostel, and once they had entered their rooms and changed into clothes more favorable for a house party, they were on the move once more.

--

Like every good other house party they had ever been to, this one screamed its purpose long before they had reached the house itself. Cars were lined up on either side of the street for what seemed like miles and the music playing in the distance became more and more profound with each step. When they grew close enough to the house to see that it was the only one on the street, Tommy let out a pained groan.

"No, uhn-uh," said Tommy firmly, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.

It took Kimberly and Jason a few moments to realize that Tommy had stopped before they did the same and turned around to face him. "What?" asked Kimberly, her hands on her hip in an irritated fashion.

Tommy's arms were folded across his chest, his face littered with defiance. "There is no way in hell I'm going into that house," he answered. "That's house music, Kim. Bad things always happen to me when there's house music involved. Back me up here, Jason; tell her that bad things always happen to me when there's house music involved."

Jason sighed. "It's true," he spoke, looking from Tommy to Kimberly. "Every single time Tommy goes somewhere and the primary music is house music, something goes wrong. I could tell you stories that would make your hair stand on end, and all of them start with house music and end with Tommy either on the verge of dying, unknowingly drugged and/or robbed, or passed out on top of a pool table being spooned by a three-hundred pound gorilla woman."

"Dude," breathed Tommy, shaking his head, "I can't believe you actually went there."

Shrugging, Jason said, "Sorry, just trying to drive the point home, bro."

"Oh, would you get over yourself?" interjected Kimberly. Walking hastily towards Tommy, she took him firmly by the arm and added, "You have one of two choices, Tommy: You either go with me into this party and have some of the best sex of your life afterwards; or you go back to the hostel and don't get any from me for the rest of this trip."

Tommy's eyes suddenly flickered down towards her as a scoff escaped his lips. "Come on, Kim, who do you think you're kidding here? After the last couple of nights, I know you want it just as bad as I do."

Kimberly smirked. "Oh, there's no denying that," she replied. "All I'm saying is that I guarantee I can hold out a whole lot longer than you can. Face it, Tommy; you've never been a very patient person when you want something that badly."

Jason, who was trying not to look thoroughly disgusted, managed to say to Tommy, "She's got a good point, man. Maybe you should just go inside. I mean, what's the worst thing that can happen?"

"You just named them all off!" exclaimed Tommy, throwing his arms in the air exasperatedly.

"Then don't go," said Kimberly dismissively. "It's your choice to make, Tommy. Just realize that every choice has a consequence."

"An ultimatum you mean?"

Kimberly shrugged. "I don't like that word, but if that's what you want to consider it —"

Tommy looked from Kimberly to Jason, and then back and forth again. Finally his eyes settled on Kimberly. "Fine," he said, though it was clear that he was not pleased, as once more his eyes wandered between she and Jason, "But don't be surprised when the remains of my body end up at the bottom of that river we were on earlier tonight. I'm going to haunt you two for the rest of your lives when it happens, too, I just want you both to know that."

Laughing heartily, Jason came up from behind on Tommy. "Yeah, that's the spirit, bro!" he exclaimed, clasping both hands on Tommy's shoulders, pushing for a few moments so that Tommy's head bobbed back and forth wildly.

Rolling his eyes at Jason, Tommy turned to Kimberly and said, "Happy?"

"Yep," said Kimberly, nodding once before closing what little distance remained between her and Tommy. Then she took his hand and, in a barely audible whisper, added, "And later, you will be too, trust me."

Tommy grinned and a second later he had swept Kimberly into a heated kiss. Placing one hand at the small of her back, he effortlessly lifted her off her feet, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Their kiss continued until another shout of, "Hey, fuck-heads!" brought them back to reality. They murmured apologies once more, but remained entwined, Tommy carrying Kimberly all the way to the front door of the house, which included half of a dozen steps leading to the elevated porch.

Still, not even the prospect of what remained after the party could prevent him from wincing again as he and Jason followed Kimberly inside. There was truly nothing he hated more than house music.

"I want a drink!" shouted Kimberly, over the music. "Let's go find the kitchen!"

Tommy was about to bellow an okay when he suddenly decided there was no sense straining his vocal cords. Instead, he found Kimberly's hand with his own and allowed her to lead him through the crowded entryway, Jason right behind them. They navigated the hall and turned into an even more crowded sitting room, hard to believe considering how large the room actually was; to one side was a fairly big kitchen, and to the right was an open set of double doors leading to a darkened room flickering with bright white light, which was where the music seemed to be coming from.

Thankfully, Tommy was spared from having to enter the latter room, at least for the time being. It was a tough squeeze getting into the kitchen, and an entirely futile one at that. There was nothing to drink anywhere in sight besides the water in the tap, yet nearly everyone in the area was holding a beverage of some sort.

Kimberly was about to pronounce her confusion verbally when a tap fell upon her shoulder. As she whirled around to see who it was, Tommy — who had been standing just across from her — looked up into the face of the man they had encountered earlier; a face glistening with sweat and speckled with flecks of glitter.

"Looking for something?" asked David, grinning broadly.

"Hey, you!" said Kimberly, giving David a squeeze. "We were just looking for something to drink."

David nodded. "The bar's on the other side of the dance floor," he explained, pointing towards the room that Tommy had been dreading. "Help yourselves."

"Cool," said Kimberly, beaming. "Thanks."

"No problem," replied David. He then turned to greet Tommy and Jason, shaking their hands quickly. "Sorry to just run out on you guys, but I have to go find Felix right now. I'll see you in a little bit, though."

With that, he was gone before Kimberly — or anyone else for that matter — could say anything of it. "Well," said Kimberly, shrugging, "Let's go."

Tommy looked to Jason pleadingly, but Kimberly immediately seized Tommy by the hand and started dragging him along once more. The moment they entered the darkened room, Tommy got as close as he could to Kimberly for guiding purposes, and then closed his eyes, trying desperately to block out the synthesized sound pulsating throughout his head.

He was quite grateful when they reached the other side of the room without stopping, slipping through an oak door into a foyer area where a twenty-person line at the bar was being tended to by one man in a white dress shirt and black bowtie. It took nearly fifteen minutes to get their drinks, at which point Tommy became cognizant of the fact that their next destination was likely going to be the dance floor.

Sure enough, that was exactly where Kimberly led them. Tommy looked back to say something to Jason only to realize that Jason was no longer there. In fact, Tommy could not see Jason anywhere. Next moment Kimberly's body was pressed against his, though, diverting his attention to the dual tasks at hand: dancing with Kimberly, and pretending that he was doing so to something other than house music.

Unfortunately, the second task was much harder than he had expected. If not for the way Kimberly writhed and grinded against him as they danced into the night, he would have gone insane quite some time ago. Even so, it took less than thirty minutes for Tommy to feel his patience reach its breaking point.

"I'm going to go get another beer!" he yelled to Kimberly as he slowly pulled away. "Do you want to come with?"

"No! I'm going to keep dancing!" replied Kimberly. "But bring me a Cosmo, would you?"

Tommy nodded and, after telling her not to leave her current position, turned away, making the walk to the bar once more. This time, the bar was even more crowded than before. Tommy, who was thankful for any excuse to escape the pounding house music, did not complain. What he was not thankful for, though, was that, upon his return to the dance floor, Kimberly seemed to have disappeared completely.


	8. Amsterdam Assault

_**Title: Tommy and Jason's European Adventure**_

_**Chapter Eight — Amsterdam Assault**_

_**Original Posting Date: September 17, 2009**_

--

Tommy searched the dance floor high and low for any sign of Kimberly, but she was nowhere to be seen. He had been on the verge of storming back towards the kitchen in search of her when his rational side kicked in. Perhaps she had just gone to use the restroom, he reasoned. Yes, that had to be it.

Deciding that he was likely overreacting, Tommy returned to the place where he had left her, certain that she would soon reappear. As he waited for her to return, he planned out what he was going to say to her upon her arrival.

Oh, how "worried" he was going to be about where she had gone off to and what had happened to her. Closing his eyes, he could imagine the apology kiss he would be getting from her any minute now.

Any minute now…

"Okay, not even a monster shit could take that long," muttered Tommy, his expression littered with worry after some fifteen minutes of standing in the same spot. He had since finished off his beer and — though he would never admit it to any of the other Rangers — Kimberly's Cosmopolitan as well.

He gave the room one last rotating scan just to be sure that he had not missed her and, with still no sign of her, he turned and started back towards the kitchen on the other side of the room. She was not there either. Nor was she in the sitting room, the game room, the restrooms, the lines for the restrooms, or any other room that seemed to be housing party guests.

Something was seriously wrong.

Pulling out his cell phone, Tommy quickly dialed Kimberly's number as he searched for a quiet corner. He found a spot without much trouble, but Kimberly did not answer. After five rings, her voicemail clicked on.

"_Hey, it's Kim,"_ her voice said perkily. Tommy unconsciously smiled as she went on, _"If I didn't intentionally ignore your call, I'm sorry I missed you. Leave a message and I'll call ya back. Bye!"_

"Kim, its Tommy," he spoke. "I've been looking all over for you and I can't find you anywhere. I — I'm worried, Kim. Please, call me as soon as you can. Okay, bye."

Sighing, Tommy closed his eyes and found one last glimmer of hope. He sprinted to the front door and nearly took out a dozen people on his way. He burst out the door and ran to the sidewalk, looking left and right, sprinting a few hundred yards to the left before doing the same on the right side of the house.

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Though he knew there was still a chance that he had simply missed her inside, something that was innately "Tommy" told him that this was not the case. It was, as Hayley had called it, his Tommy-Sense, something of a sixth-sense that gave him the ability to sense danger in ways that were, quite frankly, inhuman. Four colors, five years, and six power changes had gone a long way in honing this ability.

He was halfway up the path to the front door when it opened and Jason walked out. Their eyes met and it was as though something had immediately clicked. Jason could tell from the fear in his best friend's eyes that that something had an awful lot to do with Kimberly.

"What's going on?" said Jason, as he and Tommy met halfway.

"I don't know, man," murmured Tommy, shaking his head. He then launched into an explanation of what had been going on for last thirty minutes, all the while Jason's expression growing more and more worrisome. "I'm honestly freaking out, Jase; I know it's weird, but somehow I just know that something's not right. Hayley calls it my Tommy-Sense."

"Your Tommy-Sense?" repeated Jason, raising an eyebrow while attempting unsuccessfully to hide his grin.

"Yeah, I know, its lame," said Tommy. "Still, I just — I can tell when something bad is happening. I know it sounds crazy, but —"

"No, it doesn't," interjected Jason, with a shake of his head. "I know exactly what you're talking about. Maybe it's one of those things that all Ranger leaders have or something like that. Who knows? Either way, I had a bad feeling too, that's why I came out here looking for you or Kim. I couldn't find either one of you inside."

Tommy, who was slightly disappointed that his ability was not as unique as he had thought, immediately pushed those feelings aside to suggest that they continue to search the house for Kimberly. They had, after all, only explored the common areas. There was much more of the house that had yet to be searched.

"Do you think we're overreacting?" asked Tommy, as they walked back inside.

"I don't know," answered Jason. "I think we probably both are, but you never know. As much as I know Kim can take care of herself, you have to admit —"

"She's always been a target," finished Tommy, remembering all the times he had had to rescue Kimberly from the likes of Rita, Lord Zedd, and Divatox. "We need to find her, now!"

Jason simply nodded. They decided to search the common areas one more time just to be sure that they had not missed her, but she was still nowhere to be seen. Upon reconvening near the kitchen, Tommy led Jason to the quiet corner he had used previously and retrieved his cell phone to see that Kimberly had not yet returned his call.

"I'm calling her one more time," said Tommy. "If she doesn't answer, I'm tearing this house apart until I find her and, if by some chance she's not here, I'm going Zeo Five and tearing this whole goddamn city apart."

Jason suddenly scratched the small of his back in a gesture that Tommy acknowledged with a silent nod. It was always there, just in case…

When Kimberly's recorded message came on once more, Tommy merely hung up and returned his phone to his pocket. "Let's go," he said to Jason. It was all that needed to be said.

Twenty minutes of useless searching later, Tommy was seriously considering giving into the nagging voice in the back of his head. A simple flick of his wrists was all it would take — but no, he would not resort to that yet, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Then, as if by some amazing work of divine intervention, Tommy found what he was looking for. Standing just beyond the entrance into the house-proper, he could not help but feeling like Jason had been right in proclaiming himself the better leader. Hidden in the corner of the unused sitting room on his left was a barely visible darkened hallway. If not for the faintest glimmer of moonlight creeping in through a nearby window, to passerby the hallway would have merely looked like a very shadowy corner.

"She's down there," said Tommy, pointing towards the corner. "I know it, bro."

"Let's check it out then," replied Jason.

They started off in that direction, but halfway there a voice called out, "Hey, Tommy! Jason!" The pair froze and slowly turned around to find David walking towards them. "Where are you guys off to?"

"What's down there?" said Tommy, pointing once more.

"Nothing," said David, his brow furrowed, "Just a few bedrooms, a bathroom, and the staircases to the basement and the second-story. Why? What's going on?"

Tommy did not answer. Instead, he simply turned back around and continued towards the hallway with Jason right behind him. Unfortunately, David was quick to cut them off.

"Guys, guys, slow down," said David. "The party is over there. Felix and I really don't want people in the bedrooms."

Tommy looked to Jason with an expression of impatience, and then turned to David and said, "How much has Kimberly told you about us?"

David, whose confusion was growing by the moment, replied, "I — I don't know. Quite a bit, I suppose, but what's that got to —"

"Good," interrupted Tommy, his tone becoming extremely firm as he continued, "Then you know that Jason and I are both more than capable of kicking your head clear into the Amstel River. Kimberly's gone missing, she's not answering her phone, and we can't find her. Now, if you like your head attached to your neck, you'll get the fuck out of my way."

David gulped and stepped aside just as Tommy had begun to lower himself into a fighting stance. Standing straight, Tommy nodded and murmured a thank you as he and Jason continued into the hallway. They flipped on lights as they passed the switches and searched two of the bedrooms and the bathroom with no luck. They were just about to enter the third bedroom when Tommy's phone suddenly rang.

Freezing on the spot, Tommy pulled out his phone to see that it was Kimberly calling. His heart skipped a beat as he answered, "Hello?"

"Tommy!" screamed Kimberly, her voice so distant that Tommy could tell the phone was nowhere near her ear. "Tommy, help!"

Then he heard a deep, masculine voice mutter something in a language Tommy could not understand. Next moment there was a loud _crack_ as Kimberly screamed once more. A second later, the line went dead.

Horror did not do justice to the look on Tommy's face as he turned to Jason. "Someone's got her, bro. Someone's got her and I have no idea where she is."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Come on," he grumbled, sprinting down the hallway while muttering something that sounded distinctly like, "Worst leader ever."

Tommy soon caught up to him and said, "Where are we going?"

"She's upstairs, dude," replied Jason, rounding a corner into another hallway, this one much shorter than the one they had just come out of. This one also led to the staircase up to the second-story. "How did you not hear that?"

"U-upstairs?" stammered Tommy, Jason nodding. "I — I was so focused on the phone call, I guess I must not have been listening to what was going on around me."

"Understandable," said Jason, he and Tommy taking the steps two and three at a time.

"Get ready, just in case," said Tommy, and with that, he flicked his wrists and summoned his Zeonizers, the wrist-mounted tools that would allow him to transform into Zeo Ranger V — Red, while Jason reached behind his back and retrieved his Power Morpher, ready to bellow for the protection of the Tyrannosaurus for the first time in three years.

Upstairs was shrouded in darkness; Jason pulled out his cell phone and used the backlight to scan the walls for a light switch. He soon found one, but Tommy reached out and seized Jason's wrist just before Jason had illuminated the hallway.

"If he sees light, he'll know we're coming," said Tommy.

"Shit, good point, bro," said Jason. "I didn't even think about that. Maybe you aren't such a bad leader after all."

"Thanks," said Tommy, rolling his eyes. "Just be quiet and listen for anything that sounds weird."

Soon they were creeping through the hallway as though on some kind of top secret reconnaissance mission. They stopped at each door they passed and listened carefully at all of them, but they could not hear anything.

"He may hear us, but if she's not in this one, we're just going to have to start ripping all the doors open," said Tommy, as he and Jason approached the last door in the hallway.

Jason was on the verge of replying when a muffled noise reached their ears, causing him to fall silent. Their eyes met in a moment of speechless understanding, and in a flash Tommy had kicked the door right off the hinges. Though the room was far too dark to see anything, Tommy heard a startled sound and instantly ran to where the noise had come from, his shoulder lowered as his mind flickered back to the days when Ernie, the owner of the Youth Center back in Angel Grove, had taught him the proper way to hit a tackling dummy.

Whether it was Kimberly or someone else he was running towards, he did not know, but either way she was not going to be in danger much longer. Suddenly Tommy dove forward, driving his shoulder into what was undoubtedly another human being. There was a very masculine groan, which told Tommy that he had not hit Kimberly, and as he took the other person to the ground, Tommy rolled on top and cocked his fist back, pinning the man down with his free hand.

As he cocked his fist back high above his head, for the briefest of moments Tommy thought of the respect and honor systems that he had learned in two decades of studying the martial arts. Then images popped into his head of what may or may not have happened to Kimberly, and any semblance of self-control went out the window, replaced by the most pure and raw of emotions.

"Lights!" barked Tommy, driving his fist straight into the man's face.

Three punches later, Jason had managed to find and turn on the lights in the room. Tommy, who was using his knees to keep the man's arms pinned to the ground, looked into the bloodied and bruised face and punched again; and again…and again…until finally Jason came up behind him and grabbed Tommy's arm. Try as he might, though, Jason could not pull Tommy free. In fact, an effortless shift from Tommy of his arm pushed Jason back and onto his butt.

Tommy's face was beet red, his eyes wet with threatening tears as he continued to hit this man repeatedly. Every curse word and insulting name he could think of flew from Tommy's mouth; he was entirely out of body by this point, unable to contain his emotions as the worst of thoughts and images surrounding Kimberly continued to attack his psyche.

Behind him he could hear shuffling, but Tommy paid this no mind. Grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt, Tommy stood tall and hoisted the man onto his feet, driving him into the nearest wall and holding him there, his feet dangling inches above the floor.

"Look at me," muttered Tommy, his neck flaring. "LOOK AT ME!" he yelled again. Slowly, the man turned his head, barely able to open his swollen eyes. He was bleeding from the mouth and nose, and his face was bruised beyond recognition.

"Do you have any fucking idea what you just did?" continued Tommy angrily. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you out this window right now."

The man's lips twitched as he attempted to speak. "P-p-please," he pleaded, his voice heavily accented, "M-mercy."

Tommy smirked. "Maybe you should have thought about that first, huh?"

Behind him, Jason had just untied Kimberly from where she had been lying on the bed moments before. Mostly unharmed — at least in the physical sense — as soon as Jason had freed her she ran to Tommy, who was preparing to deliver yet another powerful punch.

"Tommy, no!" yelled Kimberly, but it was too late.

Tommy cocked back as hard as he could and unintentionally drove his elbow right into Kimberly's nose as she came at him from behind. Immediately, Tommy's blurred state-of-mind snapped into focus as he realized what he had just done. His hold slackened on the man — who slid down the wall in a collapsed heap — and Tommy slowly turned around to find Kimberly lying on the floor, clutching her bleeding nose, wearing nothing but the red tee shirt that Jason, who was now shirtless, had just been wearing.

"Oh my god," breathed Tommy, rushing to take a knee at her side. "Kim — Kim, are you okay? Oh my god, Kim, I'm so sorry."

A pained moan escaped her lips as she struggled to move into a sitting position, one of Tommy's hands behind her head and the other at the small of her back. "Why are there so many of you?" she groaned, rubbing her forehead gingerly. "I can't keep up with four Tommy's."

Tommy briefly flashed a grin towards Jason — who was tying the man to the bed with the same ropes that had been used on Kim — then brought his attention back to Kim and said, "I'm so, so sorry, Beautiful. I — I didn't mean to hit you, I swear."

"I know," muttered Kimberly, her eyes watery from the pain. "It's okay. I'm fine."

"Did he hurt you at all?" asked Tommy, inspecting her carefully. There were signs of a few small bruises starting to show, as well as an inch-long cut on her shoulder, but other than that, Tommy could not see any serious signs of damage. Still, he gave a sigh of relief when Kimberly shook her head.

"No," she answered. "But you did. That elbow hurts like a son-of-a-bitch."

Tommy winced, blinking back tears. He had been trying to help her, not hurt her; the fact that he had likely broken her nose left him with an incredibly pained sense of guilt, as though he would never be able to forgive himself for what he had done to her.

Apparently noticing this, Kimberly sat forward the rest of the way and said, "Hey, its okay, Tommy. After all these years, I should have known better than to run at you from behind like that. I was pretty much asking for it."

Tommy shook his head. "No, you weren't," he replied adamantly. "I totally lost control. All I needed to do was get that guy away from you and keep him down, but once I started hitting him, I just couldn't stop. All I could think was that, what if he had, you know —?"

"He didn't," said Kimberly, although she could not help but grimace. "It was definitely his intention, though. For a minute there I thought —"

Kimberly broke off abruptly, and suddenly was bursting into tears, her face buried in her hands. Tommy gathered her up quickly in his arms, holding her against his chest as he whispered, "Shh, its okay now, Kim. Everything's going to be okay."

Jason, who did not want to interfere but still wanted to be there for his two best friends, stood at their side and placed one hand on Tommy's shoulder and one on Kimberly's. "Someone should probably call the police," he murmured.

Kimberly did not look up, but Tommy did. "Do you really think that's a good idea, bro? I beat the guy half to death, you know."

Jason nodded. "That's why we need to get our stories straight," he replied. "Kim, can you tell us what happened?"

Sniffling loudly, Kimberly wiped her nose on the back of her hand and managed a small nod. "I-I think so."

Slowly lowering himself into a cross-legged seat on the floor, Jason gave Kimberly's back a soft rub as he said, "Why don't you start at the beginning, after Tommy left to go get drinks. I know it's probably not going to be easy, but we need as much information about what happened as possible, okay?"

Kimberly nodded once more as Tommy squeezed her comfortingly. His embrace and a deep breath were all that she needed to explain everything.

"After Tommy left, I stayed in the same spot for awhile, probably ten minutes or so, but then I had to use the bathroom, so I left. The lines were really long, though, so I found David and asked if there was another bathroom I could use. He told me where to go, so I did. I was in the bathroom in the downstairs hallway; when I came out, something hit me really hard on the back of my head. I don't know how long I was out, but when I woke up I was in here, lying on the bed, and that…_pig_ was on top of me."

"How did you manage to call me?" said Tommy softly.

"I'm getting there," answered Kimberly. Sniffling once more, she dabbed at her eyes for a moment and continued, "Well, obviously I had an idea of what he wanted and there was no way I was going to let that happen. I managed to get him off me for a few seconds and that's when I called you. I tossed the phone on the floor so he couldn't take it away and held him off for as long as I could."

"That was pretty smart of you," murmured Jason, giving Kimberly an encouraging smile.

"Yeah," added Tommy, with a smile of his own. "I don't know if I would have thought to do something like that. I'm impressed, Kim."

Kimberly shrugged. "Anyway, he backhanded me pretty good and knocked me down, at which point he stomped on my phone," she said, pointing towards the shattered remains of her cell phone in the far corner of the room. "I think at that point he decided I really wasn't going to play nicely and that's when he tied me up. After that, well…there's a reason I'm wearing Jason's shirt. Mine's over there…and there's a bit over there, too…and that looks like part of it, too…oh, and that's definitely a piece of my skirt over there, as well."

"But he didn't…you know —?" said Tommy, gently squeezing her hand.

Kimberly shook her head. "No," she replied, "But he was damn close. If you guys hadn't shown up when you did —" She hiccoughed loudly.

"Alright, I think that's enough, bro," said Tommy, to a nodding Jason.

"Yeah, for sure," said Jason. "Now we just need to figure out what we're going to tell the cops."

"We can't call the cops, Jase," said Kimberly. "It's Felix's birthday. They'll break up the party and everything."

"The party's over, Kim," said David, whose unnoticed position in the doorjamb caused the trio to jump when he spoke. "Sorry, guys; didn't mean to startle you," he added, returning his attention to Kimberly as he went on, "When I ran into Tommy and Jason, they told me you were missing. Seeing as how they thought you were somewhere in the house, I figured it was best to just send everyone home."

"But Felix —" started Kimberly.

"Felix understood that finding you was more important than his birthday party," said David.

"How much did you hear?" Kimberly asked.

David shrugged. "Long enough to know that something really bad happened here tonight," he answered. "Guys, I can't tell you enough how sorry I am. I invited you into my home and then this happened…oh my god, is that — is that the guy who —?"

Tommy nodded.

"Looks like it was a good thing I got out of the way then," murmured David, looking away from the still unconscious man.

"Do you have any idea who that guy is?" said Tommy.

David shook his head. "I've never seen him before in my life. There were so many people here tonight…I can't imagine it would have been too terribly hard for him to just slip in with the rest of the crowd, you know?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," said Jason, who then turned to Tommy and continued, "I really think we should call the police, bro. This guy deserves whatever punishment the Dutch have for his crime."

"But what about _my_ crime?" questioned Tommy; he did not sound nervous, merely curious. "I'm not going to lie, man; spending time in a foreign jail wasn't exactly how I planned on spending my trip to Europe."

Jason shrugged helplessly. "I don't know bro. Honestly, I think if three people are willing to corroborate that all you were doing was defending Kim then you should be all right. I mean, I'm no expert on the laws of the Dutch, but if pot and hash are legal here, I can't imagine you'll go to jail for this."

Releasing his hold on Kimberly, Tommy rose to his feet and started walking to the furthest corner in the room while running his hand through his hair. Upon reaching his destination, he lowered himself into a squat, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin atop his clenched and touching fists.

For nearly two minutes he simply sat there in silence, locked in a deep sense of contemplation over his choices in what was clearly a very complicated matter. Then he stood straight, turned around to face his friends, and sighed. "Make the call," he murmured, shaking his head. "Can I at least hit him one more time then? I mean, they're not going to be able to tell the difference if it's just one more."

Kimberly rolled her eyes and chidingly groaned, _"Tommy."_

"Alright, alright, fine," said Tommy, holding up his hands. "I'm just saying —"

Looking fiercely into Tommy's eyes, Kimberly shook her head and the subject was permanently dropped. From that point on they waited in nervous anticipation for the police to arrive. Felix — a tall, muscular man with a model's physique, wavy blonde hair, and steel blue eyes — entered the room at one point, but Kimberly, Jason, and Tommy paid him no mind. They were not trying to be rude; it was simply hard to care about anything else after what had just happened, along with what awaited them any moment now.

Then, after ten minutes of waiting, the sound of rapidly approaching sirens could be heard in the distance.

--

As it turned out, the Amsterdam police were more along the lines of what Jason had been expecting, though this actually had more to do with the fact that Tommy told the officers that he had only hit the man three times than anything else. The officers had been very much disbelieving of this, but a fifteen second display of martial arts in the front yard proved Tommy's falsified point to them rather quickly.

All three were needed at the station to give statements, but were allowed to go free a few hours later. Tommy, of course, had been ecstatic. Kimberly, on the other hand, had not been nearly as happy; in fact, her mood had grown distant and saddened shortly after she had finished delivering her own statement.

Seeing as how they had been transported to and from the police station in police issued-and-driven vehicles, he had not had the opportunity to discuss this with her. He had tried after being dropped back off at their hostel, but she had immediately gone into her room and locked the door, refusing to answer it, as well as her phone on the multiple occasions when Tommy attempted to call and text message her.

"Dude, you need to let it go for tonight," said Jason, seated against the wall at the head of his bed. "Something's obviously bugging her that she doesn't want to talk about right now. Give her some time to chill out and then try again in the morning. I can tell you from experience, bro; pushing her too hard now is just going to make her push back harder."

Tommy, who had been lying in his own bed, sat up to glower at Jason from across the room and proceeded to call Kimberly again. When she did not answer, he let out a sigh and said, "Looks like I don't have much of a choice, huh?"

Jason shrugged. "Sorry, bro," he replied nonchalantly. "Just go to sleep and deal with it tomorrow."

"Yeah, alright," muttered Tommy, flopping back down.

It was not long after that when Jason's thunderous snores filled the room. In the past few days, this had been the time when Tommy would sneak off to Kimberly's room; now, however, he was forced to attempt sleeping in the midst of what sounded like a horrifically powerful earthquake, not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

It took nearly an hour for Tommy to fall into an uneasy sleep, plagued by nightmares that woke him up constantly and which seemed to show what would have happened earlier had he and Jason not intervened. It was one of the most restless nights he had ever had.

At the first glimpse of sunrise, he was up and out of bed.

After brushing his teeth and splashing some water on his face to wake up, he made his way back into the room — where Jason was still sound asleep — and fumbled through his backpack until he found what he was looking for: a pair of loose-fitting, black karate pants. He pulled them on, along with a black tank top, and then quietly slipped out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

Once downstairs, Tommy moved through the reception area and passed the kitchen — where a continental breakfast was being set up — to a single white door that led into something of a backyard area. The spacious lawn bore a speckled series of large oak trees, but it was not the size of the trees that had captivated Tommy's attention as he stepped onto a small patio.

Kimberly was out there on the lawn, wearing grey sweats and a soft-pink tank top as she moved gracefully through what was quite clearly a very detailed and complicated gymnastics routine. Even with the morning dew beneath her feet, she never once slipped or stumbled.

If watching her on television had not been enough, Tommy now fully understood why she had been the face of American gymnastics ever since winning four gold medals at her first Pan Global Games.

Whether she knew that he was there or not, Tommy was not entirely sure, but she was certainly acting like she had not yet noticed his presence. Tommy did not mind, however; though he had been planning on a light kata, he found much more enjoyment in watching Kimberly's gymnastics display.

Still, she was bound to notice him eventually, and two minutes later she did. Standing straight, she looked at Tommy as he walked towards her as though he were the very last person in the world she wanted to see at that moment.

Tommy did not flinch or seem bothered in the slightest. Deep down, he knew that her expression did not accurately depict her true feelings. "That was great, Kim," he commented, once he was within earshot.

"Thanks," murmured Kimberly distantly, patting her face with a white towel that was obviously taken from her bathroom.

Tommy nodded as an idea suddenly struck him. "Are you still as good a fighter as you are a gymnast?"

Kimberly shrugged. "I haven't practiced karate in years."

"That's okay. It's just like riding a bike," replied Tommy. "Why don't you show me what you've got?"

If Tommy was the last person she wanted to see, practicing karate in front of him was the last thing she wanted to do. "I really don't feel like it," she answered honestly.

"Just humor me for a few minutes, okay?" said Tommy, taking her by the hands and leading her to a spot away from the oak tree they had been standing next to.

"_Tommy,"_ grumbled Kimberly, as he dragged her along. "I really don't want to."

"What's the matter?" said Tommy. "Afraid I'm going to kick your ass like its Jason's?"

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Still as cocky as ever," she muttered to herself. Deciding it would be easier to just play along for a few minutes instead of trying to argue her way out, she looked at Tommy as they stopped at a more open patch of grass and said, "Fine, I'll humor you, but _only_ for a few minutes."

"Great," said Tommy, flashing a wide grin before getting in a quick stretch. He then lowered himself into a defensive stance and continued, "Come on, let's see what you've got."

"What, we're just going to spar?" said Kimberly indignantly. "Tommy, did you not hear me? I haven't done karate in years."

"That's fine," said Tommy, giving Kimberly a come-and-get-me wave of his hand. "I promise I'll go easy on you."

Kimberly rolled her eyes, but took up a fighting stance of her own nonetheless. "Alright, then, let's do it."

Bowing, Tommy gave Kimberly a confident smirk and then murmured, "Ladies first."

He was not given a chance to think on this offer, as a moment later Kimberly had sprung towards him with a knee aimed right at his head. Tommy effortlessly ducked her attempt and seized her around the waist, flipping her over his back and onto her own in a Judo hold called the _O Goshi._

Groaning on impact, Kimberly gazed up at Tommy and said, "I thought you were going to take it easy."

"That was easy," said Tommy, who had maintained his hold on Kimberly's wrist after the toss and used it to hoist her back onto his feet. "I'm not going to let you take my head off, at least not without earning it."

Kimberly grumbled a few choice curse words under her breath, but Tommy had already retreated and did not hear them. Retaking her stance once more as Tommy did the same, Kimberly silently made the decision to let him strike first this time.

When he came at her with a flying side kick, Kimberly somersaulted beneath his leg and popped back onto her feet. He then attempted to take her down with a standing leg sweep aimed at her ankles, but Kimberly threw her body into a back-tuck and avoided the kick with ease. Still not deterred, Tommy tried another low kick and missed; his follow-up roundhouse was ducked as well, leaving his stomach exposed to Kimberly's knee and a floating leg takedown to his chest that left Tommy flat on his back with Kimberly's legs locked around his chest like a scissors.

"A few years my ass," said Tommy, as Kimberly released her hold and did a backwards somersault onto her feet before helping him up.

"If I recall correctly, you were the one who said it was just like riding a bike," replied Kimberly.

"I didn't actually _mean_ it," said Tommy, dropping back into position. "I was just trying to get you to spar with me."

That having been said, Tommy launched into a series of forwardly progressing tornado kicks that Kimberly was forced to backpedal in order to avoid. As she moved, she timed his kicks, and when he landed after the fourth one, she dropped him with a snapping side kick to the stomach.

"Alright," grunted Tommy, kipping-up into a standing position. "No more Mr. Nice Guy."

"Ooh," said Kimberly, waving her hands in mocking dramatics. "I'm shaking in my pink spandex skirt."

"Oh, you will be," replied Tommy.

They took up their positions once more, and this time it was Tommy who prevailed. He ran at Kimberly as though to attack only to front flip over her head; once landed, dropping her with a short leg sweep was no problem.

Kimberly wiped the grass from her butt as she popped back onto her feet, refusing Tommy's offered hand with a look that said all semblances of playing nice had ceased at that moment. Tommy simply grinned and assumed his fighting stance.

Glaring at each other fiercely, they both sprung forward with side kicks that missed wide of their targets. Whirling back around, Tommy deflected an attempted punch with his forearm and then watched in surprise as Kimberly did the same to his return strike. Back and forth they went, until finally Tommy realized that neither was going to win this way.

He threw a knee at Kimberly's chest, but she side-stepped his attack and gave three rapid back-handsprings to move herself away from Tommy's striking distance. Charging, he tried another knee, but Kimberly was barely able to duck it.

Their hearts thudded in unison as they continued to go at each other, neither willing to give an inch to the other or show any sign of weakness. In the end, after a poorly timed kick from Kimberly, the fight came to a cease soon Tommy attempted another _O Goshi_.

This time, though, just as Tommy made to lift her over his back, Kimberly wrapped a leg around Tommy's ankle and used it to keep herself grounded. She then grabbed Tommy around the shoulder and attempted to pull him down, but he was too heavy. Their different motions ended up taking both of them down, and as they fell, Tommy took hold of Kimberly and moved his body to insure that it was he who landed on top.

As it was, Kimberly had the same idea in mind, and as a result, they ended up landing on their sides, face-to-face, but their momentum kept them moving. Holding onto each other, they rolled across the lawn while constantly alternating the dominant position. If not for the unexpected pain from a sharp and hidden rock jabbing into Tommy's ribs, they may never have stopped.

Both were breathing incredibly hard and, with Kimberly hovering over him, her knees just below his arms and her hands planted on either side of his head, Tommy looked up into her reddened face, and for a moment thought about kissing her. Then her arm support suddenly gave way and she collapsed against his chest. A moment later she began crying hysterically.

Subconsciously he had been expecting this. In fact, it had been the main reason behind wanting her to spar with him in the first place. There was just something that came with the release of taking your frustrations out on another person like she had just done.

Holding her close, Tommy scooted himself into a sitting position while Kimberly kept her arms wrapped firmly around his neck. "Just let it out, Kim," he whispered soothingly as he rubbed her back gently. "I've got you now, Beautiful."

"You didn't see any of it, Tommy," sobbed Kimberly, her fists clenched as she pushed enough away to look him in his eyes. "You didn't see what he did to me!"

Tommy appeared startled. "I — but I thought you said he didn't —"

"He didn't," replied Kimberly, sniffling. "But he started kissing my neck and then he — he touched me. He ripped my panties off and he — oh god!" she wailed. All of the sudden, she was beating her fists against Tommy's chest as she went on, "You were supposed to be there! You were supposed to protect me! You — you promised me, Tommy!"

A not-so-great memory and the fact that she was assaulting him made it so that it took Tommy a few moments to recall the promise she spoke of, for he had not promised her anything recently that he could remember. But then it was there, as plain as day.

There he was, sitting in a small wooden chair next to Kimberly as she lay in her hospital bed following her tumble from the balance beam. She had Caesar the Dragon in one hand; the other was being held by Tommy, his thumb softly caressing the top of her hand.

"_I promise, Kim, I'm never going to let anything hurt you ever again."_

In retrospect it had been a foolish and equally impossible promise, fueled solely by an impulsive rush of emotion that came from seeing her like that, especially after everything that they had been through with Lord Zedd and Rita in the days leading up to her accident. On top of that, he had been damn sure at the time that she was asleep and had not heard him, though that was now clearly not the case.

Tommy allowed her to unleash her rage for a couple more seconds before seizing her wrists so quickly it made Kimberly gasp. "I'm sorry, Kim," he murmured, looking her square in her eyes. "I am so, so sorry. I — I should have been there. I should have stopped him sooner."

It was in that moment, as doe met chocolate in a long gaze, that Kimberly realized what she had in Tommy. He knew that what had happened was not his fault just as surely as she did, yet he was willing to take everything she could throw at him — both physically and verbally — just to make her feel better.

Surprisingly, at least to Tommy, a chuckle escaped her lips as she moved to wipe her eyes. "No, you shouldn't have," she replied. "I'm just an idiot that doesn't think before she speaks. You did everything you could to stop him, and you did in the end. I will always love you for that."

Tommy, who looked utterly relieved that she seemed to have gotten over her anger so quickly, smiled down at her and said, "You hit pretty hard, you know that?"

"Did I mention I'm also an idiot that doesn't think before she hits the man who saved her?" countered Kimberly, grinning impishly as she rubbed his chest momentarily. Then, touching the side of his face softly, she continued, "You always were my White Knight, Tommy. Even when we weren't together, somehow I knew that you would be there if I ever needed you."

"_Weren't_ together? Like, in the past tense?" said Tommy. "So does that mean we're 'together' now?"

Kimberly shrugged. "Do you want to be?"

Tommy rolled his eyes; even though he had thoroughly enjoyed watching Kimberly squirm when he had given her similar treatment, the answering of a question with another question was not something he was particularly patient with while on the receiving end. Still, now was not the time to be frustrated.

"This is the way I look at it, Kim," replied Tommy calmly. "We've still got something like two more weeks in Europe. I don't know about you, but there's no one else I'm planning on being with besides you. So if you feel the same way, I think we should just play it as it comes, you know? Like you said before, we live on opposite ends of the country. I think if we're going to make any kind of serious commitment, we need to figure out the logistics of it first."

"There you go again, always thinking with your head," muttered Kimberly.

Tommy gave a short laugh. "It's always kept me out of trouble," he said.

"Yeah, and thinking with _my_ head always gets me into trouble," argued Kimberly. "It was my head that told me to break up with you in the first place. My heart, on the other hand, kept telling me what a dumbass I was being for even considering it. Ten years later, I'm positive which one was right. It was right back then and it's still right now."

"Kim —"

"Tommy, I know what I'm talking about here," said Kimberly. "I haven't dated seriously at all since the Halloween party, you know that? I know it sounds crazy — hell, it sounds crazy to me, too — but somehow I knew that our paths would cross again, and when they did, I wanted to have a clear path to you. Now I have it and I'm not going to give it up without a fight."

"But your school —" started Tommy, though again his efforts were futile at best.

"I can open a gymnastics school anywhere, Tommy," said Kimberly, over the top of him. "What I have in Florida — it's nothing compared to what I have with you. Besides, why are you so against this? I thought this was what you wanted, something more serious…."

"It was," said Tommy before quickly amending, "I mean, it is; it is. I just — I don't want you to make a decision now that you might regret somewhere down the road. Impulsive decisions like that have a tendency of coming back around to bite people, you know what I mean?"

Kimberly nodded. "Yeah, I do, but this isn't an impulsive decision; at least not for me, anyway. Look, Tommy, I don't _need_ you to be happy. But the truth is that I've always been happier when you're around. I want to be with you, Tommy, and if that means leaving Florida and starting again in California, then I'm willing to do that."

Tommy smiled and wiped a stray tear as it slid down Kimberly's cheek. She was clearly adamant in her decision; nothing he said or did outside of severing all ties with her completely was going to make her back down. "You know I can't ask you to do that, Kim," he whispered.

"I know," said Kimberly, nodding once more. "That's why I'm offering. This was the one thing holding us back before, and now that I've had some time to realize what's truly important in my life, I'm willing to make it a non-issue."

"So this is the big Are-we-official?-conversation, eh?" murmured Tommy, sitting back on his elbows. "I mean, I had a feeling it was bound to happen eventually, but I'll be honest, this isn't what I was picturing."

"Stop dancing around the issue, Tommy," replied Kimberly sternly.

"I'm not dancing around the issue, Kim," said Tommy, rising to his feet. Kimberly did the same as he continued, "I just — I feel like you're trying to make a decision in the heat of the moment and I don't want you to do something that you'll reg —"

Any further argument was lost when Kimberly took his face in her hands, pulled him down to her level, and kissed him hard and full. A few seconds later, she pulled back and very calmly said, "Yes or no, Tommy?"

"Fuck yes," breathed Tommy, touching his fingertips to his lips.

"Yeah?" said Kimberly, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah," said Tommy, nodding whilst grinning like a madman.

Next moment Kimberly had leapt into his arms, her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. "Good," she replied before kissing him once again. "Just so you know, though, I'm a terrible girlfriend: I can't cook to save my life, cleaning house is always at the bottom of my list of shit to do, and I have a bad habit of watching Lifetime movies with Ben, Jerry, and a spoon for hours on end."

"Wow, we're ten seconds in and I'm already starting to question this relationship," said Tommy, smirking playfully.

Though she knew he had been kidding, Kimberly still felt it necessary to smack his shoulder. "Hey, I have some good qualities too, you know," she said matter-of-factly. "One of which I believe I promised you yesterday night and never got a chance to make good on."

"We've still got thirty minutes or so until Jason wakes up," said Tommy, unable to contain his smile, a smile that was matched equally by Kimberly.

"Trust me," said Kimberly, kissing him, "You won't last ten."

"Is that a challenge?" questioned Tommy, with a raised eyebrow.

Kimberly shook her head. "Nope, it's a guarantee."

"We'll see about that," replied Tommy confidently.

Three minutes later they were in her room. Seven minutes and eighteen seconds after that, she had proven her point.

Unfortunately the rest of the day was not nearly as eventful. Midway through breakfast, two uniformed police officers had entered the dining area, requesting the trio's presence at the police station immediately.

As it turned out, the man from the night before had been the suspect in a line of similar crimes throughout the city, most of which had been more successful than his attempt on Kimberly. Because of this, he was likely to be tried for all his crimes at once, which was also likely to mean a very long and drawn out trial process should Kimberly decide to press charges. This, of course, meant having to stay in Amsterdam for the entire time in order to testify, something she simply could not do.

While part of her desperately wanted to stay and see the man receive his punishment for what he had done to her, she also knew that his other crimes would bring his just comeuppance. Choosing not to press charges had certainly not been an easy decision, but in her eyes she did not see any other options.

At four o'clock that afternoon when they were finally allowed to leave, Kimberly made a beeline for the exit, Tommy and Jason jogging to catch up with her, which they finally did at the large stone staircase leading from the door to the sidewalk.

"We're leaving Amsterdam now," she declared, "And I'm never coming back."

"That sounds fair," said Jason lowly. "I'm ready to go somewhere where I can speak the language again, anyway. To Germany, then?" he asked, clasping the shoulder on either side of him.

"Sounds good to me," said Tommy, "Kim?"

Kimberly nodded. "Anywhere but here is fine with me," she replied.

"Good," said Jason, as they hit the sidewalk. "Let's get going then."


End file.
